&  ™  p 

ILLINOIS 
CENTRAL  RAILROAD  COMPANY 


OFFERS    FOR    SALE 

OYER    1,500,000    ACRES 

SELECTED 

Farming  and  Wood  Lands. 


TRACTS  OF  FORTY  ACRES  AND  UPWARDS,  TO  SLIT  PURCHASERS. 


LONG  CREDITS  AND  AT  LOW  RATES  OF  INTEREST, 


SITUATED 


ON    EACH    SIDE    OF    THEIR     RAILROAD,     EXTENDING     ALL     THE     WAY    FROM    THE 
EXTREME     NORTH    TO    THE    SOUTH    OF 

THE       STATE       OF       ILLINOIS. 


BOSTON: 
GEO.    C    RAND   &    AVERY,    PRINTERS 

No.    8,    COKXHILL- 


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OFFERS   FOR   SALE 


OVER    1,500,000    ACRES 


SELECTED 


FARMING  AND  WOOD  LANDS, 


IN   TRACTS    OF  FORTY    ACRES   AND    UPWARDS,    TO   SCIT    PURCHASERS, 


LONG  CREDITS  AND  AT  LOW  RATES  OF  INTEREST, 


SITUATED 


ON    EACH    SIDE    OF    THEIR    RAILROAD,    EXTENDING     ALL    THE    WAY    FROM    THE 
EXTREME    NORTH    TO    THE    SOUTH    OF 


THE     STATE     OF     ILLINOIS. 


BOSTON: 
GEO.    C.   RAND   &   AVERY,    PRINTERS. 

No.    3    CORN  HILL. 

18  5  7. 


March  1,  1857.     Received  contract  for  a  Deed  for  80  Acres  of  Land, 
at  $10  per  acre,  ($S00,)  and  paid  two  years'  interest,  at 
three  per  cent,  per  annum,  in  advance,       ....     $48  00 
"      "   18.39.     Paid  first  instalment  of  principal,  being  one 

fifth  of  $800, $160  00 

One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on  balance  due, 
($640,)  at  three  per  cent,  per  annum,  .         .         .       19  20 — 179  20 
"      "  1860.     Paid  second  instalment,  being  one  fifth,  as 

above, 160  00 

One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on  balance  due, 

($480,)  as  above, 14  40—174  40 

"      "  1861.    Paid  third  instalment,  being  one  fifth,  as  above,     160  00 
One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on  balance  due, 

($320,)  as  above, 9  60—169  60 

'•  1862.     Paid  fourth  instalment,  being  one  fifth,    as 

above, 160  00     ' 

One  year's  Interest  in  advance  on  balance  due, 

($160,)  as  above 4  80—164  80 

"      "   1863.     Paid   fifth  instalment,    being    one  fifth,    as 

above,  and  received  Deed,  ....  160  00 

Making  the  full  payment,  principal  and  interest, .         .         .         $896  00 

It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  at  least  one  tenth  of  the 
lands  purchased  shall  be  fenced  and  cultivated  each  year,  for 
five  years,  so  as  to  have  one  half  of  the  purchase  under  improve- 
ment by  the  time  the  last  payment  becomes  due.  It  will  also 
be  borne  in  mind,  that  until  the  payments  are  made,  and  the 
Deed  of  conveyance  granted,  these  lands  are  not  subject  to  taxa- 
tion, by  the  22d  Section  of  the 'Act  of  the  Legislature,  approved 
February  10th,  1851. 


THE  VALUE  OF  THE  LAND  FOR   FARMING  PURPOSES. 

Illinois  is  known  throughout  the  United  States  as  the  Gar- 
den State  of  the  Union,  and  from  the  extraordinary  fertility  of 
the  soil,  is  justly  entitled  to  the  name.  Its  vast  tracts  of  rich, 
rolling  land  were  called  by  the  first  French  settlers  "  Prairies," 
which,  translated,  means  "  natural  meadows,"  and  such  they 
arc  ;  almost  the  whole  State  is  a  natural  meadow,  lying  in  high, 
beautifully  rolling,  or  gently  undulating  Prairies,  with  a  soil  of 


surpassing  and  inexhaustible  fertility,  all  ready  for  the  plough, 
without  a  rock,  stump,  or  even  stone,  to  interrupt  its  action. 
The  difficulties  experienced  in  the  Eastern  States,  or  in  Western 
timbered  States,  in  bringing  lands  under  cultivation,  are  un- 
known here ;  the  soil  is  readily  turned  over  at  the  rate  of  two 
acres  to  two  acres  and  a  half  a  day,  by  a  heavy  team  of  horses 
or  two  yoke  of  oxen,  or  it  may  be  contracted  to  be  worked  at 
from  $2  to  $o  per  acre,  and  an  active  practical  man  can  readi- 
ly cultivate  ten  acres  here,  against  one  in  the  Eastern  or 
Middle  States,  taking  them  as  they  run,  while  the  yield  per  acre 
will  be  infinitely  greater.  With  far  less  labor,  a  farm  purchased 
here  at  the  low  rates  ruling  at  present,  will  yield  more  than  one 


BREAKING   PRAIRIE. 

there  valued  at  $100  to  $150  per  acre.  The  soil  is  a  dark,  rich 
vegetable  mould,  varying  from  two  to  eight  feet  in  depth,  capa- 
ble of  producing  any  thing  in  the  greatest  profusion,  which  will 
grow  in  these  latitudes  at  all,  and  absolutely  inexhaustible  in  its 
fertility.  Instances  could  be  multiplied  of  land  cropped  for 
twenty  to  thirty  successive  years,  without  the  addition  of  a 
pound  of  manure,  on  which  the  growth,  last  season,  was  just  as 
vigorous  and  the  yield  as  profuse,  as  on  any  other  of  the  series. 
Crossing  the  prairies  are  belts  flf  white  oak,  hickory,  black 
walnut,  ash,  and  maple  timber,  of  excellent  quality,  generally 
following  the  courses  of  the  streams,  varying  from  half  a  mile 
to  five  miles  in  width,  in  many  places  running  far  out  on   the 


10 

prairie,  or  scattered  in  groves  here  and  there  over  its  surface. 
The  vState,  as  a  general  thing,  is  well  watered,  the  streams  usu- 
ally running  over  sandy  or  stony  beds  ;  besides  ponds  of  con- 
stant stock-water,  which  are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  prairies. 
For  household  purposes,  excellent  soft  water  is  found  at  from 
10  to  25  feet  in  depth,  generally  springing  from  a  stratum  of  sand. 
Settlers  from  the  East  are  always  agreeably  disappointed  in  the 
character  of  the  land  in  this  respect ;  a  prevailing  though  erro- 
neous impression  having  gone  forth,  that  on  the  prairies  good 
water  was  difficult  to  be  found.  The  first  crop,  on  newly-broken 
prairie,  is  generally  Sod  Corn;  as  this  requires  no  cultivation 
between  planting  and  gathering,  the  farmer  has  ample  time  to 
get  things  comfortable  about  him,  and  prepare  the  land  for  sow- 
ing winter  wheat  before  cold  weather  comes  on.  From  this  sod 
crop  it  is  the  expectation  to  realize  sufficient  to  pay  the  cost  of 
breaking,  improvements,  and  general  expenses,  placing  the  land 
in  a  high  state  of  cultivation  on  the  opening  of  the  second  season. 
It  has  averaged  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  bushels  per  acre,  often 
running  up  to  fifty.  Wheat  averages  from  twenty-five  to  thirty 
bushels  per  acre,  frequently  reaching  thirty-eight  and  forty,  and 
during  the  past  season  has  been  selling  at  the  various  railroad 
stations  at  from  $1  00  to  $1  50  per  bushel.  The  second  crop 
of  corn  averages  from  sixty  to  eighty  bushels,  frequently  giving 
one  hundred. 

By  the  great  network  of  railroads,  reaching  all  portions  of  the 
State,  every  farmer  is  comparatively  near  a  market ;  since,  ow- 
ing to  the  competition  amongst  Chicago  buyers,  each  railroad 
station  becomes  a  local  market  for  the  producer,  where  Chicago 
prices,  less  the  expense  of  transportation,  can  be  readily  com- 
manded. Chicago  is  now  the  greatest  primary  Grain  depot  in 
the  World.  Thirteen  railroads,  all  of  great  length,  centre  here, 
keeping  all  parts  of  this  State  and  the  United  States  in  constant 
and  close  connection  with  it.  Vessels  have  loaded  at  its  docks 
direct  for  Liverpool,  to  go  through,  via  the  Lakes  and  St. 
Lawrence,  without  any  transshipment  of  cargo  ;  and  from  its 
superior  harbor  and  extraordinary  natural  position,  it  must  ever 
be  the  great  centre  of  trade  for  the  West  and  North-west.  To 
the  settler  in  the  central  and  southern  portions  of  the  State, 
peculiar  advantages  are  opened  by  the  completion  of  the  "  Ohio 


11 

and  Mississippi  Railroad,"  and  its  connection  with  the  "  Illinois 
Central,"  enabling  him  to  command  the  Chicago  market  to  the 
North,  St.  Louis  to  the  West,  Cincinnati  to  the  East,  and  the 
Mississippi  towns  and  New  Orleans,  via  Cairo,  to  the  South. 
This  is  a  particularly  desirable  section  for  producing  grain  or 
choice  fruit,  or  raising  stock  ;  and  is  already  considerably  set- 
tled by  a  most  substantial  farming  population,  which  has  grown 
up  into  comfort  and  affluence  by  its  surprising  advance  in  pro- 
ductiveness and  wealth.  The  soil  there  is  of  a  warmer  nature, 
the  winters  mild,  and  springs  early  ;  grain  matures  several 
weeks  before  that  in  the  Genesee  Valleys,  and  reaching  the 
Eastern  markets  so  much  in  advance  of  all  others,  commands 
the  high  rates  always  ruling  before  the  incoming  of  new  crops. 
Attention  is  requested  to  the  letters  from  Messrs.  Root,  Arter, 
Gilson,  Phillips,  and  Williams,  residents  of  this  section,  as  illus- 
trative of  what  may  be  there  accomplished. 

Land  may  be  selected  in  accordance  with  the  individual  tastes 
of  purchasers  ;  some  sections  of  country  are  best  adapted  to 
corn,  others  to  wheat,  some  producing  both  equally  well ;  some, 
again,  seem  peculiarly  favorable  to  stock  raising,  others  to  fruit 
growing  or  fancy  gardening  ;  some  portions  are  heavily  tim- 
bered ;  on  some  timber  just  covers  one  corner,  or  is  scattered 
in  occasional  groups  or  groves.  Frequently,  in  a  single  section 
of  640  acres,  all  these  qualities  are  combined,  together  with 
living  water  ;  and  the  settler  finds  a  home,  only  requiring  a  mod- 
erate expenditure  of  labor  to  establish  him  comfortably  for  life. 

The  system  of  long  credits  and  low  rates  of  interest  estab- 
lished by  the  Company  is  estimated,  by  experienced  farmers  in 
the  State,  as  being  worth,  to  the  actual  settler,  from  thirty  to 
fifty  per  cent,  per  annum,  by  enabling  him  to  invest  his  ready 
money  immediately  in  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  so  that  from 
his  being  able  to  take  up  so  much  more  than  the  man  who  locks 
up  his  funds  in  a  cash  purchase,  and  the  immense  returns  from 
land  placed  under  cultivation,  he  soon  finds  himself  far  in  ad- 
vance. In  proof  of  this,  instances  could  be  multiplied,  of  par- 
ties who  have  cleared  the  entire  cost  of  their  lands  over  and 
over  again  from  a  single  crop  ;  and  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
letters  appended  to  this  pamphlet,  for  numerous  examples  of 
the  more  average  success  of  prairie  farming  operations. 


12 


ADVANTAGES  OF   SETTLING  IN  ILLINOIS. 

Settlers  should  bear  in  mind,  that  the  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi  is  not  yet  opened  by  railroads,  and  cannot  be  for  sev- 
eral years  to  come ;  also  that  the  lands  along  the  watercourses 
and  proposed  lines  of  railroads  have  been,  to  a  large  extent, 
entered  by  speculators,  and  are  held  at  high  rates,  and  almost 
invariably  for  cash,  or  a  large  portion  cash,  and  but  short  credit 
on  the  remainder  —  the  farmer,  therefore,  is  either  obliged  to 
pay  a  high  cash  price  for  his  land,  or  to  locate  at  some  distance 
from  a  market,  thereby  incurring  great  expense  in  the  trans- 
portation of  his  material  and  crops;  also  that  Chicago,  sit- 
uated as  it  is  at  the  head  of  Lake  navigation,  must,  necessarily, 
continue  to  be  the  centring  point  for  all  surplus  produce  raised, 
west,  north-west,  or  south-west  from  it,  since,  until  some  channel 
of  transportation  is  opened  cheaper  than  that  of  the  Lakes  and 
canals,  all  raw  materials  must  seek  that  route  as  the  only  profit- 
able outlet  to  a  final  market.  Now,  the  very  difference  realized 
in  the  sales  of  crops,  in  such  a  State  as  Illinois,  opened  as  it  is 
with  railroads  through  every  part,  and  markets  at  every  station, 
over  those  ruling  west  of  the  river,  would,  in  a  few  years'  time, 
pay  the  first  cost  of  the  land  over  and  over  again,  and,  in  the 
end,  leave  an  estate  vastly  more  valuable,  from  its  being  so 
much  nearer  a  market,  in  the  centre  of  a  well-improved,  highly- 
cultivated  State,  and  forever  clear  of  the  expense  which  must  be 
incurred  by  the  transshipment  in  crossing  the  Mississippi,  and 
the  freights  to  be  paid  on  a  greater  distance  of  transportation. 

To  illustrate  this  in  detail,  it  will  be  necessary  to  enter  into 
the  following  calculations  :  — 

Allowing,  as  a  fair  average  farm,  160  acres  of  land ;  appro- 
priating 40  acres  to  building,  orchard,  and  pasture  grounds, 
upon  which  may  also  be  raised  the  vegetables  for  the  family,  and 
part  of  the  provender  for  the  stock  ;  20  acres  for  mowing ;  30 
acres  for  wheat ;  and  70  acres  for  corn  ;  and  assuming  that  the 
wheat  and  corn  crops  are  the  only  ones  from  which  the  farmer 
will  have  any  surplus,  —  and  we  probably  have  as  fair  a  basis  as 
can  be  gained  for  the  argument.  With  fair  farming,  20  bushels 
of  wheat,  and  50  bushels  of  corn,  to  the  acre,  will  make  a  vory 
low  estimate,  being  not  by  any  means  a  fair  average  yield, 


13 

upon  these  rich  prairie  lands  ;  but  take  these  for  the  crops,  and 
30  acres  in  wheat,  at  20  bushels  per  acre,  is  .  .  GOO  bushels. 
70  acres  in  corn,  at  50  bushels  per  acre,  is  .  .  .  3500  bushels. 
Retaining  200  bushels  of  wheat  for  seed  and  family  use,  and 
900  bushels  of  corn  for  working  stock,  and  fattening  animals 
for  family  use,  both  of  which  allowances  arc  undoubtedly  suffi- 
ciently large,  the  farmer  has  left  for  market  400  bushels  of 
wheat,  and  2600  bushels  of  corn,  —  in  all,  3000  bushels  of 
grain.  This  being  a  strictly  agricultural  country,  it  must  de- 
pend upon  an  eastern  or  foreign  market  for  the  sale  of  its  sur- 
plus produce  ;  and  therefore  a  bushel  of  grain  upon  the  farm  is 
worth  just  so  much  less  than  the  cost  of  carrying  it  to  market. 
The  cost  of  transporting  wheat  or  corn  by  railroad  is  about 
8  cents  per  bushel  per  hundred  miles,  and  for  meats,  about  15 
cents  per  100  pounds  per  hundred  miles.  The  average  cost  per 
bushel  for  transporting  wheat  or  corn  to  Buffalo,  from  Chicago, 
by  way  of  the  Lakes,  will  not  exceed  7  cents  during  the  season 
of  navigation,  and  from  Cleveland  to  Buffalo  it  is  about  4  cents 
per  bushel. 

The  comparative  advantages  of  different  points  in  the  "West, 
for  farming  purposes,  being  the  object  which  it  is  desirable  to 
arrive  at,  it  will  be  necessary,  in  making  a  comparison,  to  take 
for  one  locality  the  vicinity  of  Columbus,  Ohio  ;  for  another,  a 
point  80  miles  west,  north-west,  or  south-west  of  Chicago,  Illi- 
nois, on  the  line  of  any  of  the  railroads  diverging  from  that 
centre  ;  for  another,  Iowa  City,  the  capital  of  Iowa,  242  miles 
west  of  Chicago ;  and  the  other,  Fort  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  which 
is  367  miles  west  of  Chicago,  via  the  Rock  Island  Railroad, 
now  completed  to  Iowa  City,  and  the  only  road  in  running 
order  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  Missouri. 

From  Columbus,  Ohio,  to  Cleveland,  125  miles,  at  8  cents  per 
hundred  miles,  by  railroad,  the  cost  of  transportation  would  be 
10  cents  per  bushel ;  from  thence  to  Buffalo,  via  Lake  Erie,  4 
cents ;  thence  to  New  York,  12  cents;  total,  26  cents. 

From  the  point  80  miles  from  Chicago,  by  railroad,  it  would 
be  7  cents  to  Chicago ;  from  thence  to  Buffalo,  via  the  Lakes, 
7  cents ;  thence  to  New  York,  via  Erie  Canal,  12  cents ;  total, 
26  cents. 

From  Iowa  City  to  Chicago,  242  miles,  the  cost  would  be  19 


14 

cents  per  bushel;  thence  to  Buffalo,  7  cents;  thence  to  New 
York,  12  cents  ;  total,  38  cents. 

From  Fort  Des  Moines  to  Chicago,  367  miles,  the  cost  would 
be  29  cents ;  thence  to  Buffalo,  7  cents  ;  thence  to  New  York, 
12  cents  ;  total,  48  cents  ;  and  in  like  ratio  for  any  distance, 
greater  or  less. 

The  value,  therefore,  of  the  crops,  upon  a  farm  of  160  acres, 
at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  upon  one  of  the  same  size,  80  miles 
from  Chicago,  are  equal ;  while  there  is  a  difference  in  favor  of 
the  latter  over  the  one  at  Iowa  City  of  $360  annually,  and  over 
the  one  at  Fort  Des  Moines  of  $660  annually.  Three  hundred 
and  sixty  dollars  will  pay  an  interest  of  six  per  cent,  upon  a 
valuation  of  $6000,  and  six  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  is  the 
interest,  at  the  same  rate,  upon  $11,000.  It  therefore  follows, 
that  a  farm  of  160  acres,  appropriated  to  raising  grain,  within 
80  miles  of  Chicago,  is  worth  just  as  much  as  one  of  the  same 
size  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  $6000  more  than  one  at  Iowa  City, 
which  is  equal  to  $37  50  per  acre  ;  and  $11,000  more  than  one 
at  Fort  Des  Moines,  or  $68  75  per  acre  ;  on  the  assumption, 
also,  that  the  railroads  are  there  to-day,  and  the  settler  has 
every  convenience  for  transporting  his  crops  —  an  assumption, 
by  the  way,  of  which  the  farmers  there  would  be  very  happy  to 
feel  a  little  more  assured. 

This  calculation  is  based  upon  the  presumption  that  the  lands 
in  the  different  localities  mentioned  are  of  equal  productive 
capacity,  and  fully  sustains  the  argument,  so  far  as  it  relates  to 
that  tract  of  country  west  of  Lake  Michigan,  in  the  same  paral- 
lel of  latitude ;  but  in  going  southward  in  Illinois,  the  milder 
climate  and  increased  fertility  of  the  soil  more  than  compensate, 
in  shorter  winters  and  heavier  crops,  for  the  difference  in  dis- 
tance from  the  Lakes.  In  Central  and  Southern  Illinois  is 
found  the  finest  wheat  zone  in  the  Union,  as  well  as  the  best 
soil  and  climate  for  fruits.  It  is  only  necessary  for  the  intelli- 
gent farmer  to  pass  through  these  sections  of  the  State,  —  visit- 
ing the  residents  on  their  farms,  examining  the  qualities  and 
productions  of  the  soil,  looking  at  the  rich  magnificence  of  the 
prairies,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  alternation  of  timber  and 
arable  land,  at  the  same  time  taking  into  consideration  the  re- 
sources which  art,  industry,  and  capital  have  brought  to  bear 


15 

towards  the  development  of  the  country,  placing  it,  as  it  were, 
in  the  great  highway  of  our  Union,  —  to  become  convinced  that 
these  sections  must  eventually  become  the  garden  of  our  coun- 
try, and  the  granary  of  the  world. 

The  opinion  prevails,  to  some  extent,  that  those  lands  remote 
from  market  may  be  made  equally  valuable  by  being  appropri- 
ated to  stock  raising.  But  upon  this  subject  very  crude  and 
erroneous  ideas  have  been  formed,  in  the  minds  of  many,  from 
the  want  of  correct  information,  and  judging  from  the  examples 
of  a  few  individuals  who  have  made  themselves  distinguished, 
and  amassed  great  fortunes,  by  dealing  in  and  fattening,  rather 
than  by  raising  stock.  The  history  of  the  operations  of  those  gen- 
tlemen in  this  State,  who,  from  their  extensive  transactions,  have 
received  the  appellation  of  the  "  Cattle  Kings,"  will  show,  that 
they  realized  their  great  profits  through  far  other  means  than 
the  breeding  and  raising  of  cattle.  In  the  first  place,  they  are 
men  of  great  intellectual  sagacity  and  energy  of  character,  and 
would  have  made  wide  reputations  in  almost  any  other  depart- 
ment of  life.  They  located  in  the  interior  of  our  State  at  an 
early  day,  when  that  region  was  far  remote  from  market,  and 
thinly  settled,  and  a  wide  range  of  richest  pasturage  was  still 
open  and  unoccupied,  and  free  for  their  vast  herds  to  graze 
upon.  The  finest  of  cattle  could  be  bought  for  very  low  prices, 
it  not  being  profitable  for  those  who  raised  but  few  to  drive  them 
away  in  small  droves  ;  and  it  was  the  custom  of  these  gentlemen 
to  buy  up  all  the  choice  young  cattle,  over  a  large  extent  of 
country,  sometimes  going  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  for  their 
purchases,  herding  them  upon  the  wide  prairie  ranges,  and  fat- 
tening them  upon  corn,  which  they  could  buy,  at  that  time,  for 
a  dime  or  twelve  cents  the  bushel,  or  even  for  .a  less  price,  by 
buying  it  standing  in  the  shock,  and  having  it  fed  on  the  ground  ; 
then,  when  in  good  condition,  removing  them  (in  large  droves) 
to  Eastern  or  Southern  markets,  where  large  prices  were  realized 
from  them.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  only  after 
long  years  of  unremitting  labor,  trial,  and  privation,  with  these, 
to  them  great  advantages  for  their  business,  that  they  realized 
so  great  returns. 

But  the  opening  of  railroads  through,  and  the  establishing  of 
markets  in,  these  once  almost  inaccessible  localities,  has  mate- 


16 

rially  affected  that  branch  of  business.  The  prairies  hare  be- 
come occupied  by  settlers,  and  turned  to  tillage  ;  and  whereas, 
formerly,  corn  could  be  bought  at  just  what  price  the  buyer  was 
pleased  to  give,  scarcely  ever  exceeding  a  dime  a  bushel,  it  now 
seldom  commands  less  than  from  forty  to  fifty  cents. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  remind  the  intelligent  farmer  that  the 
growing  of  stock  is  a  work  of  time  ;  considerable  capital  is  re- 
quired, with  intimate  knowledge  of  the  business,  where  it  is 
undertaken  extensively ;  and  unless  a  large  tract  of  land  is  pur- 
chased, and  heavily  stocked,  in  the  commencement,  very  little 
that  is  satisfactory  can  be  realized  from  it,  as  an  exclusive  busi- 
ness. For  it  requires  long  waiting,  for  the  slow  multiplication 
from  a  small  number  of  animals,  before  there  is  much  return. 
And  at  this  day,  the  most  that  a  farmer  of  moderate  means 
could  hope  to  do  here,  in  from  three  to  five  years,  would  be  to 
raise  sufficient  stock  to  consume  one  half  of  his  surplus  corn. 
And  it  is  indispensable,  to  a  small  farmer,  that  wheat  raising 
should  be  introduced,  for  a  proper  distribution  of  farm  labor 
tli rough  the  season.  To  carry  out  the  calculation,  however. 
from  this  point  of  view,  it  will  be  necessary  to  alter  the  figures 
to  some  extent,  appropriating  part  of  the  surplus  corn  crop  to 
fattening  the  stock.  Therefore,  assuming  that  eight  bushels  of 
corn  will  make  100  pounds  of  beef  or  pork,  —  which  cannot 
vary  much  from  the  result  of  actual  experiment,  —  the  surplus 
of  the  corn  crop  upon  the  farm  of  100  acres,  supposing  it  to  be 
cultivated  as  before  stated,  would  be  2600  bushels.  And,  as  we 
have  said,  the  farmer  could  not  raise  stock  enough  within  the 
first  five  years  to  consume  more  than  one  half  of  this,  he  would 
therefore  have  1300  bushels  to  put  into  meat,  and  1300  bushels 
of  corn  for  market.  The  proceeds  of  the  farm  would  therefore 
lie  as  follows:  1300  bushels  of  corn ;  16,250  pounds  of  meat, 
and  400  bushels  of  wheat. 

As,  in  the  former  calculation,  the  value  of  the  produce  of  the 
farm  in  the  vicinity  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  of  the  one  eighty 
miles  from  Chicago,  were  equal,  they  would  also  be  equal  in  this 
case.  As  the  cost  of  transporting  the  products  of  the  farm  from 
the  three  localities  west  of  Chicago  would  be  the  same  after 
reaching  that  place,  I  shall  only  estimate  the  cost  of  carrying 
them  there  from  those  different  places. 


17 

From  the  point  80  miles  from  Chicago : 

,400  bushels  of  Wheat,  at  7  cents, $28  00 

1300  bushels  of  Corn,  at  7  cents, 9100 

16250  pounds  Meat,  at  12  cents  per  100  pounds,          .         .  19  50 

Total  cost  of  products  from  farm  80  miles  west,  to  Chicago,  .    $138  50 

From  Iowa  City,  242  miles  west  of  Lake  Michigan,  the  cost  would  be  : 

400  bushels  of  Wheat,  at  19  cents, $76  00 

1300  bushels  of  Corn,  at  19  cents, 247  00 

16250  pounds  Meat,  at  36  cents  per  100  pounds,  .         .         .         58  50 

Total  from  Iowa  City  to  Chicago, $3S1  50 

From  the  farm  at  Fort  Des  Monies,  367  miles  west,  to  Chicago : 

400  bushels  of  Wheat,  at  29  cents, $116  00 

1300  bushels  of  Corn,  at  29  cents, 377  00 

16250  pounds  Meat,  at  55  cents  per  100  pounds,  .         .         .         89  37 

Total  from  Fort  Des  Moines  to  Chicago,     .         .  .         .     $582  37 

The  difference  in  favor  of  a  farm  80  miles  west  of  Chicago 
over  the  one  at  Iowa  City,  is,  therefore,  $243  00;  and  over 
that  at  Fort  Des  Moines,  $443  87.  $243  00  is  the  interest,  at  6 
per  cent.,  on  $4050  00  ;  and  $343  87  is  the  interest,  at  the 
same  rate,  on  $7397  00. 

From  these  data,  it  is  apparent  that  a  farm  80  miles  from 
Chicago  is  worth  $4050,  or  $25  31  per  acre,  more  than  one  at 
Iowa  City  ;  and  more  than  one  at  Fort  Des  Moines  by  $7397, 
or  $46  23  per  acre.  And  this  difference  is  to  accumulate  against 
the  settler  each  and  every  year,  so  long  as  he  remains  there.  It 
must  also  be  remembered,  that  a  very  considerable  local  de- 
mand, caused  by  emigration,  and  passing  travel,  has,  in  territo- 
ries so  thinly  settled  as  those  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  where 
so  little  cultivation  has  been  in  progress,  prevented  the  earlier 
settlers  from  depending  at  all  on  any  market  outside  their  doors. 
But  as  the  country  settles  up,  all  produce  not  required  for  home 
consumption  must  necessarily  seek  the  Lakes  for  its  outlet ;  and 
it  is  to  that  time  the  prudent  farmer  must  look  for  the  value  of 
his  investment,  judging  for  himself  whether  it  is  the  course  of 
wisdom  to  entail  this  enormous  annual  drain  upon  the  earnings 
of  himself  and  his  children,  not  for  to-day,  nor  to-morrow,  but 
for  all  time. 

3 


IS 


ADVANTAGES  FOR  MECHANICS,  LABORERS,  &C,  &C'V 

There  is  work  enough  for  all  who  can  come  ;  towns  and  vil- 
lages are  springing  up  with  unexampled  rapidity ;  great  dis- 
tricts of  country  are  being  settled,  and  internal  improvements 
keeping  pace  with  the  general  advance  of  the  population  and 
wealth.  For  many  years  to  come,  in  all  human  probability,  this 
rate  of  progression  and  increase  must  be  sustained,  and  mechan- 
ical labor  continue  to  be  in  constant  demand.  The  prudent, 
industrious  laborer  can  also  depend  upon  continued  employment 
at  fair  wages ;  and  if  economical,  may  readily  save  sufficient 
from  the  proceeds  of  a  year's  work  to  make  the  advance  interest 
payment  required  by  the  Company,  to  secure  a  piece  of  land  for 
his  farm  ;  thus  starting  upon  his  career  to  independence  and 
probable  wealth. 


MINERALS,  COAL,  LUMBER,  &C,  &C. 

The  Company  owns  valuable  tracts  of  Iron  and  Lead  Ores, 
also  Coal  beds  of  immense  richness.  The  Coal  and  Iron  lie  in 
immediate  proximity,  and  may  be  worked  to  great  advantage. 
There  are  also  forests  of  the  most  valuable  White  Oak,  Black 
Walnut,  Hickory,  and  Cypress  timber,  and  excellent  opportuni- 
ties for  erecting  steam  mills  are  open  at  points  where  a  great 
local  demand  may  be  secured,  as  well  as  railroad  facilities  for 
conveying  the  lumber  to  all  parts  of  the  State. 

When  the  amount  of  building  now  going  on  throughout  the 
State  is  taken  into  consideration,  a  glance  at  such  opportunities 
must  be  sufficient  for  the  practical  operator. 


L9 


PRICE  CURRENT  FOR  CORN,  WHEAT,  AND  OATS, 

In  the  Chicago  Market,  during  the  Year  1854. 


January,  . 
February, 

March,  .  . 
April,.  .  . 
May,  .  .  . 
June.  .  .  . 
July,  .  .  . 
August, .  . 
September, 
October,  . 
November, 
December, 


33  to  40 
45  "  46 
49  «  50 
43  "  44 
43  «  45 
45  "  46 


50 

5  1 
60 
54 
50 
46 


51 
55 
61 
55 
52 
17 


SPRING 

WHEAT. 

93  tc 

95 

117  " 

120 

104  " 

106 

100  " 

102 

125  " 

130 

128  " 

130 

95  " 

100 

95  « 

110 

100  " 

120 

90  « 

105 

120  « 

125 

100  " 

110 

WINTER 

WHEAT. 

106  to  115 

130  « 

140 

120  " 

130 

112  " 

120 

140  " 

150 

140  " 

150 

115  " 

120 

140  " 

150 

130  " 

140 

130  « 

140 

130  " 

145 

112  « 

125 

26  to  261 
30     "  31 

27  «  28£ 
26i  «  27 
30     «  31 


81* 

33 

30 
33 


33     "  34 
32     "  33 

23     "  28 


PRICE  CURRENT  FOR  CORN,  WHEAT,  AND  OATS, 
In  the  Chicago  Market,  during  the  Year  1855. 


MONTHS. 

CORN. 

SPRING 
WHEAT. 

WINTER 
WHEAT 

OATS. 

January,  . 
February, 
March,  .  . 
April,  .  .  . 
May,  .  .  . 
June,  .  .  . 
July,  .  .  . 
August, .  . 
September, 
October,  . 
November, 
December, 

48  to  50 
48  "  50 
50  "  55 
55  «  62 
72  "  78 
70  «  80 
70  "  75 
63  "  68 
63  "  68 
63  »  68 
60  «  65 
50  "  55 

113  to  120 
115  "  120 
115  "  130 
135  "  150 
150  "  170 
150  «  162 
150  «  156 
110  "  125 
103  "  130 
128  "  160 
145  «  152 
128  «  136 

128  to  135 
125  "  135 
125  "  140 
150  "  187J- 
160  «  175" 
158  "  165 
155  "  165 
133  "  140 
120  "  155 
155  «  180 
155  «  162 
135  "  145 

27  to  28 
27  "  28 
34  «  35 
40  «  48 
45  "  52 
40  «  48 
45  "  50 
26  «  30 
26  "  30 

25  "  28 

26  "  31 
26  »  29 

20 

COST  OF  MOVING  TO  CHICAGO. 
ROUTES  AND  FARES  FROM  THE  EASTERN  CITIES  TO  CHICAGO. 


FROM   NEW  YORK. 

First  Class.     Emigrant. 

Via  Hudson  River,  or  New  York  and  Harlem,  New  York  Cen- 
tral, Great  Western,  (Canada,)  and  Michigan  Central  Rail- 
roads, (distance  9<30  miles,)  affording  the  traveller  an  oppor- 
tunity of  visiting  Niagara  Falls,  and  the  Great  Suspension 
Bridge  over  the  Niagara  River,  without  deviation  from  his 
route, $22  00       $10  00 

Via  Hudson  River,  or  New  York  and  Harlem,  New  York  Cen- 
tral, Buffalo  and  Erie,  Cleveland  and  Erie,  Cleveland  and 
Toledo,  and  Michigan  Southern  Railroads,  (distance  963 
miles,) 22  00  10  00 

Via  New  York  and  Erie  to  Niagara  Falls,  Great  Western, 
(Canada,)  and  Michigan  Central  Railroads,  (distance  960 
miles,) 22  00  10  00 

Via  New  York  and  Erie,  Buffalo  and  Erie,  Cleveland  and  Erie, 
Cleveland  and  Toledo,  and  Michigan  Southern  Railroads, 
(distance  960  miles,) 22  00  10  00 

Via  Camden  and  Ambov,  Pennsylvania  Central,  and  Pittsburg, 

Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Railroads,  (distance  920  miles,)        22  00  10  00 

In  summer,  passengers  can  take  steamers  on  the  Hudson  River,  connecting  with  the 

Erie  Railroad  at  Newburg,  or  the  New  York  Central  at  Albany,  and  again  at  Buffalo, 

connecting  with  the  splendid  Lake  steamers  for  Detroit  or  Toledo,  where  they  lake  the 

Michigan  Central  or  Michigan  Southern  Raihoad  for  Chicago.     Fares  by  these  routes 

are  a  few  dollars  less  than  by  all  railroad. 

FROM    BOSTON. 

Via  Western,  New  York  Central,  Great  Western,  (Canada,) 

and  Michigan  Central  Railroads,  (distance  1010  miles,)       .  $24  00        $12  00 

FROM    PHILADELPHIA. 
Via  Pennsylvania   Central   and  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne   and 

Chicago  Railroads,  (distance  818  miles,)     .         .  .     20  00  9  00 

Via  Reading,  Catawissa,  Williamsport  and  Elmira,  Elmira  and 
Canandaigua,  Canandaigua  and  Niagara  Falls,  Great  West- 
ern, (Canada,)  and   Michigan  Central  Railroads,  (distance 

960  miles.) 20  00 

FROM   BALTIMORE. 
Via  Northern  Central  Railway  to  Harrisburg,  thence  by  Penn- 
sylvania  Central,  and  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne,  and  Chicago 

llailroads,  (distance  797  miles,) 19  50  9  00 

Via  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  and  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne,  and 

Chicago  Railroads,  (distance  820  miles,)    .         .         .         .     20  00 
In  summer,  the  first  class  fares  arc  generally  from  #2  to  #4  less  than  the  above  rates. 
Children  over  four  and  under  twelve  years  of  age,  half  price  ;  under  four  years,  free. 
Extra  baggage  over  one  hundred  pounds,  #2  per  hundred. 

freight  on  farming  tools  and  furniture,  about  $1  50  per  hundred  pounds.  Such  arti- 
cles should  be  boxed  in  packages  not  too  large,  well  hooped,  and  plainly  marked  with 
paint,  and  not  with  cards. 

Upon  the  opening  of  navigation  in  the  spring,  a  very  pleasant  route  to  Chicago  is 
afforded  by  taking  the  steamers  on  Lake  Ontario  from  Ogdcnsburg,  Cape  Vincent,  or 
Oswego,  for  Toronto,  thence  via  Ontario,  Simcoe  and  Huron  Railway,  (94  miles,)  to 
Collingwood,  and  thence  bv  Lake  steamers  through  Georgian  Bay,  across  Lake  Huron 
and  down  Lake  Michigan,  Stopping  at  the  Island  of  Mackinac  and  the  principal  towns 
on  the  Lake,  in  Wisconsin.  First  class  fares  by  this  route,  #15  from  Ogdensburg,  and 
#13  from  Cape  Vincent,  or  Oswego,  which  include  meals  and  state  rooms  on  steamers, 
and  the  railroad  fare  from  Toronto  to  Collingwood.     Emigrant  fares,  #8  to  #10. 

The  "  Railroad  Guide"  Map  accompanying  this  pamphlet,  shows  all  the  routes  and 
their  principal  connections. 


21 


PRICE  CURRENT  FOR  CORN,  WHEAT,  AND  OATS, 

In  the  Chicago  Market,  during  the  Year  1856. 


January,  . 
February, 
March,  .  . 
April,.  .  . 
May,  .  .  . 
June,  .  .  . 
July,  .  .  . 
August, .  . 
September, 
October,  . 
November, 
December, 


CORN. 

40  to  45 

40 

"  45 

38 

"  42 

35 

"  40 

35 

"  38 

28 

«  35 

30 

"  48 

40 

"  46 

36 

"  43 

33 

"  38 

30 

"  38 

35 

«  40 

120 
11.3 
L05 
100 

105 
98 
100 
100 
95 
83 
76 
76 


to  130 
"  125 
«  115 
"  110 
«  115 
«  110 
«  110 
"  110 
"  105 
«  103 
"  90 
«  85 


RED 

WINTER 

WHEAT. 

125  to  135 

120  " 

130 

115  « 

125 

110  " 

120 

120  " 

130 

105  « 

115 

112  « 

125 

115  « 

125 

110  « 

120 

100  « 

115 

88  " 

100 

88  " 

95 

WHITE 
WINTER 
WHEAT. 


So  White  Win- 
ter Wheat  was 
oflVred  until 
July. 


125  to  130 
130  "  145 
120  «  128 
110  "  120 
95  «  110 
100  "  105 


to  28 
«  26 
"  28 
«  30 
«  29 
«  28 
«  32 
"  35 
«  31 
«  28 
"  36 
«  36 


Prices  for  produce  generally  decline  in  the  Chicago  market  on 
the  closing  of  lake  and  canal  navigation,  the  surplus  then  seek- 
ing the  southern  outlet,  via  Cairo,  or  bought  subject  to  storage 
expenses. 


WHAT  ARTICLES  IT  WILL  BE   BEST   TO  BRING  OUT  FROM 
THE   EAST. 

Furniture.  —  Highly  finished  and  costly  furniture  is  mostly  all 
brought  from  the  East,  and  sold  at  a  considerable  advance  in 
the  West ;  but  all  the  plain,  substantial  articles  which  are  in 
general  use  in  farm  houses,  can  be  procured  here  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  as  cheap  as  at  the  East. 


Agricultural  Implements.  —  The  smaller  kinds  are  more  ex- 
tensively made  at  the  East ;  but  ploughs,  reaping,  mowing,  and 
threshing  machines  are  extensively  made  at  the  West.  The 
difference  in  the  cost  of  the  former,  however,  is  not  sufficient  to 
warrant  the  trouble,  delay,  and  expense  necessarily  attendant  on 
forwarding  small  parcels,  and  the  settler  will  find  it  much  more 
economical,  in  the  end,  to  purchase  all  such  articles  here. 


22 


Stores,  of  all  kinds,  can  be  bought  at  reasonable  prices ;  and, 
in  short,  the  emigrant  to  Illinois  now  needs  to  bring  with  him 
only  such  personal  baggage  as  the  ordinary  demands  of  travel 
require. 

Houses  can  be  contracted 
for  in  Chicago,  and  put  up 
on  the  lands,  any  where 
within  reasonable  distance 
of  the  railroad,  in  less  than 
thirty  days  from  the  date 
of  order.  They  will  cost 
from  $250  upwards,  accord- 
ing to  the  taste  and  re- 
quirements of  the  pur- 
chaser. 

Responsible  parties  are 
engaged  in  this  business 
here,  and  the  settler  avoids 
the  principal  inconvenience 
heretofore  supposed  to  be 
to  the  West. 


indispensable  in  removing 


Cows  and  Oxen.  —  Good  milch  Cows  can  be  bought  at  from 
$20  to  $30.  Good,  well-broke  working  Oxen  can  be  had  at  from 
$50  to  $150  per  yoke. 

Horses  vary  from  $100  to  $150  each.  At  these  prices,  good, 
strong-limbed,  healthy  animals  can  be  purchased,  suitable  for 
farms.  They  are  extensively  and  cheaply  raised  on  the  prairies, 
for  the  eastern  markets,  and  afford  large  profit. 


FENCING. 

An  abundant  supply  of  lumber,  or  timber  for  building  or 
fencing,  can  be  easily  procured ;  but  the  Osage  Orange  plant 
has  been  extensively  introduced,  and  is  rapidly  supplanting  all 
other  kinds  of  fencing.  Being  at  the  same  time  more  perma- 
nent and  secure  than  any  other,  and  highly  ornamental,  it  must 
soon  be  universally  employed.     It  can  be  raised  by  contract  at 


23 

from  fifty  to  seventy-five  cents  per  rod,  parties  making  a  busi- 
ness of  preparing  the  ground,  setting  out  the  plants,  and  culti- 
vating and  trimming  them  until  a  perfect  hedge  is  produced  for 
the  settler.  For  this,  one  third  of  the  contract  money  is  paid 
upon  the  setting  out  of  the  plants,  and  the  balance  when  the 
fence  is  completed,  without  interest.  Farmers  preferring  to 
raise  plants  from  the  seed,  or  procure  them  from  nurseries, 
tending  the  hedge  themselves,  can  procure  their  fence  more 
economically  than  by  contracting. 


$m 


REAPING  AND  THRESHING  WITH  MACHINERY  BY  CONTRACT. 

Reaping  Machines  are  almost  altogether  used  at  the  West. 
They  cost  $100  to  $150.  They  will  cut  fourteen  acres  of  wheat 
per  day.  Contracts  for  reaping  are  made  at  62 J-  cents  per  acre. 
The  contractor  furnishes  a  driver,  raker,  and  horses ;  the  farmer 
finds  binders  and  shockers. 

Threshing  Machines  will  thresh  300  bushels  per  day.  It  is 
generally  contracted  to  be  done  at  4  to  5  cents  per  bushel,  the 
contractor  furnishing  four  horses  and  three  hands,  the  farmer 
four  more  horses  and  five  more  hands,  making  in  all  eight  hands, 
viz.,  one  driver,  one  feeder,  one  measurer,  one  to  pitch  sheaves, 
one  to  cut  bands,  and  three  to  take  away  straw. 


24 


FUEL. -WOOD,  COAL. 

Great  misconception  exists  at  the  East  in  regard  to  fuel,  the 
want  of  which  is  not  a  matter  of  inconvenience  to  our  farmers. 
Wood  is  delivered  at  the  stations  along  the  line  of  the  road  at 
from  $3  to  $4  per  cord.  In  the  central  and  southern  portions 
of  the  State,  it  is  afforded  in  some  places  as  low  as  $2  per  cord. 
Bituminous  coal  of  the  best  quality  is  found  at  various  points 
along  the  road,  and  sells  at  from  $1  50  to  $4  per  ton.  Mines 
are  now  being  worked,  at  convenient  distances,  all  over  the  State, 
and  the  completion  of  the  various  East  and  West  Railroads 
guarantees  a  constant  supply  at  reasonable  rates.  Old  residents 
in  the  State  consider  this  coal  more  economical  as  fuel,  even 
when  they  have  to  haul  it  a  considerable  distance,  than  to  cut 
wood  on  their  own  farms. 


TOWN  LOTS. 

At  about  every  ten  miles  along  the  road,  the  Company  have 
erected  large  and  commodious  passenger  and  freight  houses. 

Around  most  of 
these,  dwellings 
and  stores  have 
been  erected  since 
the  completion  of 
the  railroad.  Mer- 
chants and  me- 
chanics are  gather- 
ing at  these  sta- 
tions, to  accommo- 
date the  wants  of 
the  rapidly  growing  farming  population  surrounding  them.  At 
most  of  the  stations,  the  Company  own  the  town  sites.  Lots  are 
offered,  on  extremely  liberal  terms,  to  any  who  wish  to  purchase, 
and  build  on  them. 

Great  opportunities  are  offered   at  these  various   stations  for 
embarking   in  the  mercantile  business,  dealing  in  lumber  or 


grain,  pork  and  beef  packing,  or  in  a  general  produce  business. 
A  country  so  fruitful  and  productive,  with  a  population  rapidly 
filling  it  up,  must  make  each  and  all  of  these  profitable. 


ILLINOIS 

Is  now  in  the  start  of  its  great  advance  towards  becoming  the 
first  producing  State  in  the  Union.  Having  Lake  Michigan  on 
one  side,  furnishing  a  constant  outlet  for  its  produce,  the  Missis- 
sippi to  the  west,  with  its  tributaries,  the  Illinois  and  Rock 
Rivers,  both  navigable  streams,  running  far  into  its  interior,  the 
Wabash  on  its  eastern  borders,  and  Ohio  on  the  south,  the  nat- 
ural facilities  would  seem  unequalled  in  the  world.  But  added 
to  these  is  a  system  of  internal  improvements  unsurpassed  by 
any  other  of  the  States.  The  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  inter- 
sects it  from  east  to  west,  and  numerous  railroads  cross  and  re- 
cross  in  every  direction.  Its  hamlets  are  becoming  towns,  its 
towns  cities,  and  its  vast  prairies  occupied  and  cultivated  by  a 
most  substantial,  intelligent,  and  respectable  farming  population. 
Every  thing  seems  to  be  flourishing,  and  wealth  and  general 
prosperity  rewarding  every  adventure.  For  young  men,  wearied 
with  struggling  against  the  competitions  and  difficulties  of  ad- 


26 

vancement  in  the  older  States,  this  seems  a  field  peculiarly  suited 
to  their  aims  and  ambitions  ;  requiring  but  a  moderate  invest- 
ment of  capital,  large  returns  await  the  prudent  and  industrious 
operator. 

The  reader  can  see,  from  the  perusal  of  the  letters  accom- 
panying this  pamphlet,  what  has  been  accomplished  by  others, 
starting  under  far  more  adverse  circumstances  than  now  exist ; 
and  when,  upon  such  a  soil  as  this  has  been  proved  to  be,  at- 
tended with  all  the  facilities,  natural  and  artificial,  which  have 
been  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  the  more  scientific  and  economical 
system  of  agriculture  pifrsued  in  older  countries  is  directed, 
the  reality  must  surpass  the  most  sanguine  expectations  at  pres- 
ent entertained. 


FURTHER  INFORMATION. 


Sectional  Maps  of  the  Lands  of  the  Company,  showing  the 
precise  position  of  every  piece  of  land  in  various  parts  of  the 
State,  owned  by  the  Company,  can  be  had  at  the  Chicago  Land 
Office,  by  remitting  fifty  cents  in  postage  stamps.  Plats  of  their 
towns,  at  the  various  stations  throughout  the  State,  can  also  be 
seen  at  that  office. 

For  any  further  information,  apply  personally  or  by  letter,  in 

English,  French,  or  German,  to 

JOHN  WILSON, 

Or  to  Land  Commissioner, 

JOSEPH  B.   AUSTIN, 

Registrar, 

Illinois  Central  R.  R.  Co.,  Chicago. 

Land  Department,  Illinois  Central  It.  R.  Co., ) 
Chicago,  January  1,  1807.  j 

Office,  in  Illinois  Central  R.  R.  Depot  Buildings. 


LETTERS  IN  REGARD  TO  SOIL,  ETC. 


LETTER  FROM  G.  W.  GILSON,  ESQ. 

Centralia, Marion  Co.,  Illinois,) 
December  20,  1855.  J 

Hon.  John  Wilson, 

Land  Commissioner. 

Dear  Sir :  You  have  requested  my  views  in  regard  to  the  advantages 
and  prospects  of  Illinois  ;  and  it  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to 
answer  you.  I  have  resided  in  the  State  for  nineteen  years,  and  may, 
therefore,  be  considered  as  possessing  some  knowledge  of  the  subject  I 
am  writing  about.  I  have  seen  many  changes,  and  the  results  of  many 
operations  for  advancing  our  position.  I  have  seen  the  dreary  times 
When  our  farmers  had  to  live  in  isolated  positions,  haul  their  crops  long 
distances  to  a  market,  and  then  sell  at  low  rates,  taking  goods  in  exchange 
as  part  payment ;  and  I  see  them  now  with  railroads  passing  all  around 
them,  and  markets  established  within  the  convenient  reach  of  every  one 
of  them.  Large  as  has  been  the  accession  to  our  population  during  a 
few  years  past,  in  my  opinion  the  coming  season  will  show  an  immensely 
greater  increase  still.  The  maps  and  advertisements  of  your  Company 
have  found  their  way  into  the  hands  of  eager  men,  who,  from  the  sterile 
hills  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  view  with  amazement  the  rapid  progress 
of  this  mighty  valley  of  the  West.  The  tide  of  prosperous  commerce, 
which  is  sending  its  rich  treasures  to  the  East,  from  our  ocean  of  agri- 
cultural Wealth,  in  its  return  brings  back  the  necessary  means  of  in- 
crease ;  and  thus  each  year  is  destined  to  add  to  the  almost  boundless 
development  of  the  resources  of  our  State. 

Illinois  is  by  far  the  most  important  agricultural  State  in  the  Union, 
and  affords  the  greatest  inducements  to  emigrants.  It  has  more  acres 
of  good  arable,  and  fewer  acres  of  waste  land  than  any  other  State.  It 
has,  along  its  borders,  and  through  its  area,  more  miles  of  navigable 
streams ;  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  canals  in  the  world,  con- 
necting the  Northern  lakes  with  the  Mississippi  River  ;  and  railroads  in 
every  direction,  forming,  as  it  were,  a  network  of  iron  over  its  rich  and 

(27) 


28 

fertile  prairies.  Mines  of  iron,  coal,  lead,  and  other  minerals,  underlie 
these  beautiful  savannas ;  and  a  salubrious,  even  climate  makes  redo- 
lent with  health  the  happy  families  who  here  found  their  happy  homes. 

Iowa,  though  much  talked  of  at  the  East,  can  hold  no  comparison 
with  our  "  Prairie  State."  Settlers  going  over  there  find,  to  their  cost, 
that  the  land  speculator  has  been  before  them,  selecting  the  desirable 
locations,  and  holding  them  at  cash  prices  equal  to,  and  often  far  beyond, 
the  credit  rates  in  Illinois.  Along  each  stream,  all  possible  future  rail- 
road routes,  and  near  every  market  station,  he  has  been  there  first,  and 
the  settler  must  press  farther,  farther  back,  and  doom  himself  to  hard, 
unprofitable  labor,  in  an  isolated  position  for  years  to  come.  Land 
speculators  will  be  the  great  curse  of  Iowa  for  a  whole  generation  to 
come.  They  are  locking  up  the  resources  of  the  State,  preventing  its 
improvement,  and  constituting  themselves  a  perfect  pest  to  the  actual 
settler.  Large  tracts  of  land  have  been  entered,  and  are  now  held  by 
foreign  capitalists,  who  intend  to  keep  them  out  of  the  market  until  the 
improvements  of  others  have  enabled  them  to  realize  immense  profits. 
Suppose  a  farmer  from  the  East  to  make  a  selection  in  the  midst  of  one 
of  these  tracts ;  he  can  have  no  knowledge  of  how  the  land  around  him 
may  be  held,  and  would  have  to  waste  his  whole  lifetime,  adding  to  the 
wealth  of  another,  from  whom  he  derives  no  reciprocal  advantage,  but,  on 
the  contraxy,  the  greatest  injury.  Again,  the  prices  are  actually  higher 
over  there  than  here.  I  have  known  of  lands,  thirty  miles  from  a  mar- 
ket, with  no  timber  or  stream  within  ten  miles,  to  be  held  at  from  $10 
to  ^12  per  acre  —  one  half  cash,  and  the  balance  in  six  months  or  a  year, 
with  ten  per  cent,  interest.  .  The  settler  there  would  have  to  haul  his 
lumber  and  building  materials  thirty  miles,  giving,  to  start  with,  $22  and 
upwards  for  even  ordinary  lumber,  bring  his  produce  thirty  miles  again 
to  market,  and  then  receive  25  to  33  per  cent,  less  for  his  crops,  than  at 
the  same  time  the  farmer  in  Central  or  Southern  Illinois  would  be  readi- 
ly commanding.  Allowing,  again,  that  Iowa  was  well  supplied  with 
railroads  now,  (though  such  a  state  of  things  cannot  be  expected  in  less 
than  ten  years'  time,)  and  allowing  that  the  settler  could  at  once  secure 
a  good  location  at  fair  prices,  still  his  neighbor  in  Illinois  would  have  the 
advantage  over  him  ;  for  Chicago  is  now,  and  must  ever  be,  the  centre 
and  gathering  point  for  all  the  produce  West,  North-west,  and  South- 
west of  it,  and  will  consequently  fix  the  standard  price  for  this  whole 
region  of  country ;  and  all  the  producer  can  hope  to  get  for  his  crops 
will  be  Chicago  prices,  less  the  cost  of  transportation  ;  leaving  the  balance 
always  against  the  farmer,  as  he  recedes  from  the  centre  of  trade* 

Again,  in  Iowa  he  will  have  to  pay  far  higher  for  all  agricultural  tools 
and  machinery ;  all  materials  for  building,  as  well  as  the  little  luxuries 


29 

of  life  ;  find  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  educate  his  children  ;  and 
in  short,  for  many  years  suffer  all  the  social,  agricultural,  and  general 
privations  and  wants  of  an  entirely  new  State. 

Now  turn  to  Illinois.  Here  we  have  such  a  network  of  railroads  —  not 
on  paper,  but  in  actual  operation  —  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  set- 
tler to  get  many  miles  away  from  one.  At  every  station  his  produce 
will  command  hard  cash,  at  nearly  Chicago  rates.  He  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  flourishing  State  in  the  Union ;  in  a  perfectly  healthy  cli- 
mate, with  a  rich  soil,  plenty  of  fine  timber  and  good  water,  abounding 
in  coal  and  minerals ;  and  where  he  can  obtain  the  best  of  land  on  long 
credits,  with  low  rates  of  interest  and  easy  payments.  How  much  bet- 
ter, then,  to  settle  here !  For  the  next  ten  years  he  can  make  far  more 
per  annum  than  by  going  West  of  the  Mississippi ;  and  even  should  he 
pay  a  few  dollars  more  per  acre,  on  a  long  credit,  the  difference  in  re- 
ceipts on  a  single  crop  would  more  than  repay  it. 

By  the  terms  upon  which  your  Company  disposes  of  its  lands,  the 
speculator  is  shut  out.  Let  the  settler  take  this  into  consideration  ;  let 
him  look  at  the  advantages  of  being  surrounded  by  actual  farmers  only, 
who  will  aid  immediately  in  making  roads,  building  churches  and  schools, 
and  all  other  local  improvements ;  let  him  study  your  terms  for  lands  ; 
here  he  can  buy  on  your  six  years'  credit,  only  pay  three  per  cent, 
per  annum  for  the  use  of  his  money,  and  at  once  invest  his  means  in 
cultivating  the  purchase.  So  he  can  afford  to  buy  double  the  amount  in 
Illinois  that  he  can  in  Iowa ;  and  before  his  payments  are  completed, 
realize  at  least  two  hundred  per  cent,  on  the  money  thus  used  in  cul- 
tivation. 

By  far  the  most  valuable  and  desirable  portion  of  our  State  has  as  yet 
received  but  little  attention  ;  and  many  of  our  best  farming  lands  are  still 
held  at  very  low  figures.  The  reason  for  this  is,  that  the  tide  of  emigra- 
tion, years  ago,  before  railroads  were  even  thought  of  out  here,  poured  in 
from  the  Lakes  and  Northern  Indiana,  seeking  the  Illinois  and  Rock 
Rivers  to  furnish  an  outlet  for  their  crops.  Year  after  year,  settlers 
came  along,  locating  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  pioneers,  and  thus 
forming  epiite  large  settlements,  which  have  ever  since  attracted  more  or 
less  of  the  passing  emigrants.  Some  of  these  centres  were  also  formed 
in  Southern  Elinois,  but  not  having  the  large  navigable  streams  so  near 
at  hand,  did  not  progress  so  rapidly  as  the  others.  Now,  however,  the 
streams  cease  to  be  essential,  the  railroad  having  furnished  the  necessary 
outlet ;  and  these  fairest  sections  of  the  whole  State  lie  in  rich  luxuri- 
ance, inviting  the  energy  of  the  farmer,  only  to  return  to  him  their 
choicest  rewards.  Southern  Illinois  has  more  timber,  and  a  soil  better 
adapted  to  the  production  of  wheat,  corn,  fruits,  or  grasses,  than  the 


30 

northern  parts  of  the  State.  The  winters  are  far  shorter  and  less 
severe ;  and  while  by  railroad  the  settler  finds  easy  access  to  Chicago 
and  the  East,  he  is  also  in  close  proximity  to  the  uninterrupted  naviga- 
tion of  the  South.  Our  prairies  are  not  so  large  as  those  in  the  North, 
are  more  gently  undulating,  well  watered  by  small  streams,  and  have 
the  timber  scattered  over  them  to  better  advantage.  Our  climate  is 
mild,  regular,  and  healthy.  We  are  exempt  from  sudden  and  severe 
changes,  and  able  to  pursue  farming  operations  to  far  greater  advantage 
and  vastly  greater  profit.  Our  stock  requires  but  little  housing  or  feed- 
ing up,  and  can  therefore  be  raised  more  economically,  while  we  have 
constantly  the  choice  of  the  four  great  markets,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cin- 
cinnati, and  New  Orleans,  for  the  disposal  of  our  produce.  If  Eastern 
farmers  would  give  this  section  a  fair  and  fall  examination,  I  am  per- 
suaded they  would  settle  here  at  once ;  and  I  know  the  results  of  their 
operations  could  not  fail  to  be  highly  satisfactory. 

Such,  sir,  are  the  results  of  my  observation  and  experience  in  Illinois 
and  the  West.     They  are  at  your  disposal  if  you  think  fit  to  use  them. 
While  I  remain, 

Yours,  very  truly, 

GEORGE  W.  GILSON. 


LETTER  FROM   B.   G.   ROOTS,  ESQ. 

Tamakoa,  Perry  Co.,  Illinois,  ? 
December  27,  1855.  \ 

Hon.  John  Wilson, 

Land  Commissioner. 
Dear  Sir:  In  March,  1837,  I  left  Massachusetts  for  Illinois.  During 
the  first  eighteen  months,  my  profession  of  civil  engineer  required  me 
to  be  constantly  in  or  near  the  sivamp  and  overflowed  lands,  in  the  ex- 
treme south-easterly  portions  of  this  State.  I  did  not,  however,  find  even 
that  section  as  sickly  as  I  had  expected,  though  an  occasional  shake  ad- 
monished me  that  while  engaged  in  that  occupation,  my  family  had  better 
remain  in  comfortable  quarters  at  home.  Seeing  that  this  State  offered 
superior  advantages  to  men  with  only  a  small  capital,  I  was  anxious  to 
locate  in  it ;  but  as  fully  determined  to  run  no  risk  as  to  the  health  of  my 
family.  After  extensive  examinations,  I  selected  the  tract  upon  which  I 
now  reside,  and  removed  my  family  from  the  East  to  it.  I  have  since 
become  well  acquainted  with  all  counties  south  and  east  of  the  Illinois 
River,  and  have  been  in  most  of  the  counties  in  the  south  half  of  Wis- 
consin, but  have  seen  none   healthier  than  this.     I  went  through  the 


31 

country  above  spoken  of  before  we  had  railroads.  I  travelled  with  my 
own  conveyance,  and  stopped  at  the  farm  houses  at  night ;  every  house 
was  a  traveller's  home  —  for  there  were  few  taverns.  From  all  that  I 
have  seen,  I  fully  believe  that  the  prairies  in  the  south  part  of  this 
State  are  quite  as  healthy  as  any  other  section.  We  find  abundance  of 
good  water  by  digging  —  the  average  depth  of  wells  in  this  vicinity 
being  from  12  to  25  feet.  The  prairie  furnishes  excellent  pasturage ; 
but  it  dries  up  earlier  in  the  fall  (unless  we  have  more  rain  than  usual) 
than  tame  pastures.  This  year,  cattle  did  well  upon  the  prairies  until 
late  in  December ;  but  it  is  generally  expedient  to  feed  some  from  the 
middle  of  November  until  the  latter  part  of  March.  A  pasture  of  blue 
grass  will  sustain,  in  good  condition,  mules,  colts,  sheep,  dry  cows  and 
steers,  ten  months  in  the  year.  As  we  had  no  means  of  exporting 
wheat  until  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  opened  an  outlet,  it  was  not 
sown  extensively  until  the  fall  of  1854;  that  sowing  averaged  from  20 
to  25  bushels  per  acre,  of  most  excellent  wheat,  most  of  which  was 
manufactured  into  flour,  and  sold  in  the  city  of  New  York,  before  the 
crop  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  State  was  even  cut. 

Fencing  is  the  hardest  work  which  a  new  settler  here  has  to  perform. 
Good  white  oak  rails,  laid  up  in  fence,  where  it  is  required,  are  worth 
from  $2  to  $3  per  hundred.  To  lessen  the  cost  of  fencing,  it  is  very 
desirable  for  several  friends  to  settle  together,  so  that  the  land  at  first 
may  be  enclosed  in  one  common  field.  4704  rails  will  fence  20  acres ; 
6720  will  fence  40  acres ;  13,440  rails  will  fence  160  acres ;  28,880  rails 
will  fence  one  section,  or  640  acres. 

The  spring  following  that  when  the  prairie  sod  is  broken  up,  a  Ma- 
dura hedge  should  be  set  out  around  the  portion  chosen  by  each  indi- 
vidual. Many  of  my  neighbors  make  their  own  hedges ;  but  as  a  man 
can  always  dispose  of  his  labor  to  advantage  here,  I  believe  it  cheaper  to 
buy  it  than  to  make  it.  Hedging  has  become  a  trade,  to  which  a  class 
of  men  devote  themselves.  They  furnish  the  plants,  set  them  in  the 
ground,  and  cultivate  them  for  four  years,  at  15  cents  per  rod  a  year  ; 
making  the  whole  cost  of  hedge  60  cents  per  rod.  At  the  expiration  of 
four  years,  when  the  last  payment  upon  the  hedge  is  due,  it  is  a  perfect 
barrier  against  bulls,  pigs,  and  all  other  animals.  The  rails  of  which  the 
outside  fence  was  made  are  then  sold  to  somebody  else,  or  used  to  make 
interior  fences.  They  will  last  for  twenty  years,  and  I  know  not  how 
much  longer.  Sixteen  years  ago,  I  purchased  an  old  improvement. 
Most  of  the  rails  with  which  it  was  enclosed  are  still  good. 

New  prairie  is  broken  to  advantage  from  the  15th  of  April  to  the  10th 
of  July ;  but  I  prefer  to  have  it  broken  from  the  10th  of  May  to  the  10th 
of  June.     That  which  is  broken  previous  to  the  10th  of  June,  I  plant  in 


32 

corn,  which  yields  from  20  to  45  bushels  per  acre.  As  it  receives  no 
cultivation  after  it  is  planted,  it  is  more  affected  by  good  or  bad  seasons 
than  crops  which  are  cultivated.  That  which  is  broken  up  after  the  10th 
of  June  is  sown  with  wheat  in  September,  and  always  yields  well. 
Corn  which  is  planted  before  the  20th  of  May  is  often  cut  up,  and  wheat 
sown  on  the  same  ground  in  September  or  October ;  but  wheat  which  is 
sown  so  late  is  sure  not  to  produce  as  well  as  that  sown  early.  Oats  do 
not  do  very  well  upon  prairie  until  the  ground  has  been  cultivated  two 
or  three  years ;  but  the  year  following  that  on  which  it  is  first  broken  up, 
it  is  in  excellent  condition  to  produce  wheat,  barley,  corn,  flax  seed,  cas- 
tor beans,  and  every  kind  of  garden  vegetable  which  is  raised  in  New 
England,  and  excellent  sweet  potatoes  in  abundance. 

With  a  good  plough,  and  one  pair  of  good  horses,  one  man  can  break 
up  one  and  a  half  acres  per  day  of  the  new  prairie.  A  good  yoke  of 
cattle  will  break  up  nearly  the  same  quantity  of  ground.  Two  good 
yoke  of  cattle  will  break  two  acres  per  day.  Previous  to  1853,  the  cus- 
tomary price  for  breaking  prairie  was  from  $1  50  to  $2  per  acre;  but 
in  1853,  the  common  price  was  $2  50  per  acre;  and,  as  the  demand  for 
labor  always  exceeds  the  supply,  I  think  it  will  not  be  less  than  this  sum 
for  several  years  to  come. 

Common  farm  hands  receive  from  $110  to  $130  per  annum,  and  their 
board.  I  employ  a  good  practical  working  farmer,  who  takes  charge  of 
every  thing  pertaining  to  the  farm.  I  furnish  him  house,  garden,  and 
fruit  trees,  free  of  rent,  and  pay  him  $250  per  annum.  He,  with  the 
aid  of  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age,  five  breeding  mares,  and  $10  worth  of 
occasional  aid,  attends  to  forty  acres  in  corn,  ten  in  wheat,  ten  in  oats, 
six  in  flax,  (cultivated  only  for  the  seed,)  ten  in  meadow  of  old  ground, 
and  breaks  up  and  plants  in  sod  corn  twenty  acres  of  new  prairie.  We 
commence  planting  corn  from  the  1st  to  the  20th  of  April,  and  finish 
from  the  1st  to  the  10th  of  June.  I  once  raised  an  excellent  crop 
planted  on  the  23d  of  June.  I  cut  up  my  corn  stalks  near  .the  ground, 
before  the  frost  comes,  and  shock  it  up.  We  pull  the  ears  from  that 
which  is  to  be  fed  to  dry  cows  and  steers,  who  do  well  on  the  fodder  and 
such  nubbins  as  are  left  upon  it.  If  we  wish  to  fatten  cattle  in  the  win- 
ter, we  give  them  the  fodder  with  the  ears  all  remaining  on  it. 

At  the  stations  on  the  railroad,  we  can  sell  every  thing  we  can  spare 
at  nearly  Chicago  or  New  Orleans  prices,  less  the  cost  of  transportation. 
I  believe  the  charge  from  here  to  Chicago  is  24  cents  per  bushel. 

We  raise  what  is  here  called  sugar  corn,  to  eat  green.  We  have  it  fit 
for  cooking  from  the  20th  of  June  till  October.  We  raise  two  crops  of 
this,  and  one  crop  of  turnips  on  the  same  ground,  in  one  season.  We 
receive,  in  excellent  condition,  fresh  fish  from  the  Lake,  via  Chicago, 


33 

and  tropical  fruits,  via  New  Orleans  and  Cairo.  The  facility  with  which 
we  dispose  of  whatever  we  have  to  sell,  and  procure  whatever  we  wish 
to  purchase,  the  mildness  of  the  climate,  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil, 
render  this  a  most  desirable  residence.  If  farmers  will  once  visit  us, 
they  will  abandon  all  idea  of  settling  in  Iowa.  After  a  farm  is  once 
fenced,  there  is  very  little  use  for  timber  land.  Coal  here  is  rapidly 
taking  the  place  of  wood,  as  fuel.  I  buy  coal  at  such  a  rate,  that  it  is 
cheaper  to  burn  it  than  to  prepare  wood  for  stoves  and  fireplaces.  Coal 
is  so  abundant,  that  all  Southern  Illinois  ivill  alio  ays  be  supplied  at  a 
low  rate. 

Numerous  Saw  Mills  are  being  erected  in  the  timber  along  the  rail- 
road, south  of  Big  Muddy  River.  Some  are  completed,  and  Lumber 
Yards  are  established  at  almost  every  station,  where  the  pine  of  the 
North  meets  the  poplar,  cypress,  black  walnut,  sycamore,  maple,  and  oak. 
from  the  South.  There  are  saw  mills  in  the  smaller  portions  of  timber 
which  occur  at  short  intervals  in  this  part  of  the  State,  but  they  are 
fully  occupied  in  supplying  the  demand  in  their  immediate  vicinity. 

I  planted  an  orchard  of  apple  and  peach  trees  in  1843.  The  peach 
trees  commenced  bearing  in  1845,  and  the  apple  in  1847  ;  and,  although 
the  yield  is  not  uniform  in  amount,  we  have  enough  excellent  fruit  every 
year.  My  cherries,  currants,  gooseberries,  and  grapes,  have  received 
very  little  attention,  but  they  yield  abundantly.  Clover  is  a  difficult 
crop  to  start  well,  but  when  once  well  set,  it  thrives.  Timothy,  red  top. 
orchard  grass,  and  blue  grass,  set  easily  after  the  prairie  has  been  culti- 
vated, and  yield  well.  The  greatest  difficulty  here  is  the  want  of  labor. 
It  is  so  easy  to  become  the  owner  of  land,  that  almost  every  man  who  is 
worth  hiring  becomes  the  owner  of  a  farm  within  a  few  years,  and  wants 
to  hire  laborers  himself. 

Very  respectfully,  B.    G.    ROOTS. 


LETTER  FROM  JOHN  WILLIAMS,  ESQ. 

New  Albany,  Coles  County,  Illinois, 
December  23,  1855. 
Hon.  John  Wilson, 

Land  Commissioner. 

Sir :  I  will  now  comply  with  your  request  for  my  experience  as  a 

farmer  in  this  State  ;  at  the  same  time  giving  you  permission  to  use  this 

letter  as  you  may  judge  will  tend  most  to  the  interest  of  the   State,  by 

inducing  industrious  men  living  in  the  Eastern   States,  and  possessing 

5 


34 

but  moderate  means,  to  come  on  to  these  rich  prairies,  where,  with  but  a 
small  investment,  they  can  build  up,  by  their  energy  and  prudence,  com- 
fortable homes  and  handsome  farms.  And  not  only  will  these  do  well, 
but  also  for  the  man  of  wealth,  ambitious  of  an  extended  field  for  opera- 
tion, no  place  can  be  more  desirable.  To  give  one  instance :  Let  a  man 
purchase  a  good  stock  location,  and  invest  his  money  the  coming  spring 
in  young  cattle,  at  a  cost  of  from  $2  50  to  $3  00  per  hundred,  gross 
weight ;  the  grass  will  make  an  increase  of  50  per  cent,  on  the  invest- 
ment by  fall,  with  the  sole  cost  of  a  boy  to  see  after  them,  that  they  keep 
together  by  day,  and  are  pounded  at  night.  I  bought,  last  fall,  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve  head  of  cattle,  at  a  cost  of  $2  30  per  hundred,  or  about 
$25  50  per  head,  and  have  since  sold  them  for  beef,  to  be  delivered 
from  the  25th  to  28th  of  April,  at  $4  25  per  hundred,  gross  —  with  the 
hogs  that  follow  them  at  the  same  rate  ;  enabling  me,  as  you  can  readily 
see,  to  cash  my  grain  at  a  first  rate  price.  At  my  farm,  the  cattle  will 
bring  me  from  $48  to  $50  per  head,  besides  the  increase  on  the  hogs. 

I  have  lived  in  Illinois  about  thirty  years,  and  have  seen  some  ups 
and  downs  in  that  time.  I  moved  from  Kentucky,  and  settled  first  in 
Vermilion  County ;  after  living  there  thirteen  years,  I  moved  into 
Champaign  County ;  lived  there  three  years,  and  then  went  over  into 
Piatt  County,  Missouri ;  not  having  seen  the  land  there  before  moving 
out,  and  finding  it  did  not  equal  my  expectations,  I  returned  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Coles  County,  where  I  have  remained  ever  since ;  you 
can  therefore  see  that  I  have  been  over  some  of  the  West  in  search  of 
the  best  place  to  make  the  almighty  dollar,  and  as  I  think  I  have  found 
it,  I  will  here  say,  that  after  a  man  has  lived  in  the  State  of  Illinois, 
and  farmed  its  rich  soil  for  a  few  years,  he  will  find  it  hard  work  to  hunt 
up  a  better  country.  When  I  first  settled  in  Vermilion  County,  the 
representation  of  our  district  comprised  all  the  State  lying  up  along  the 
Lake,  including  Chicago,  which  then  consisted  only  of  the  old  block  fort 
on  the  Lake  shore.  At  that  time,  we,  in  the  centre  of  the  State,  had  no 
market  for  any  of  our  produce  ;  we  had  no  railroads,  and  were  forced  to 
kill  our  hogs  at  home,  team  them  to  Terre  Haute,  sixty  miles,  and  then 
get  $1  50  to  $2  per  hundred  weight,  taking  half  the  amount  in  store 
goods  at  a  very  high  figure.  So  farmers  had  to  work  along  in  those 
days.  I  have  known  corn  to  sell  for  5  to  8  cents  per  bushel ;  and  yet 
even  then  they  did  well,  from  the  fact  that  they  could  raise  every  thing 
they  wanted  to  eat,  and  in  abundance,  too. 

As  I  said,  I  have  seen  some  ups  and  downs  in  Illinois.  In  1836, 
speculations  ran  high  in  land  and  town  sites  ;  then  the  Legislature  passed 
an  act  authorizing  the  construction  of  some  thirteen  hundred  miles  of 
railroad,  of  which  none  was  built,  excepting  a  short  line  from  Spring- 


35 

field  to  the  Illinois  River,  while  the  expectation  of  a  high  rate  of  taxa- 
tion turned  the  course  of  emigration  into  Iowa ;  and  so  it  ran  on  for  a 
few  years,  until  people  found  out  that  in  passing  into  Iowa  they  left  be- 
hind them  the  best  and  richest  State,  and  that  all  their  ideas  about  high 
taxation  were  totally  wrong.  Then  came  the  act  of  Congress,  authoriz- 
ing the  Legislature  of  the  State  to  negotiate  with  a  company  for  the 
building  of  a  long  line  of  railroad  north  and  south  through  the  State ; 
and  the  completion  of  this  has  ushered  in  the  new  era  of  prosperity  for 
our  State.  I  believe  we  have  now  about  twenty-five  hundred  miles  of 
finished  railroad,  and  some  six  or  seven  hundred  miles  in  process  of 
building,  which  gives  us  a  market  right  at  our  own  doors  for  all  we  can 
raise.  Times  have  changed,  indeed,  sir,  since  I  commenced  in  the  State. 
Instead  of  5  or  8  cents  a  bushel  for  our  corn,  we  now  get  25  to  40. 
Instead  of  25  to  38  cents  for  wheat,  we  now  have  $1  25  to  $1  60  per 
bushel ;  and  in  place  of  spending  some  four  days  getting  to  Chicago,  we 
now  go  up  on  a  morning,  do  our  trading,  and  get  back  the  next  day. 

I  can  raise  on  my  farm,  and  have  done  it,  60  to  100  bushels  of  corn 
to  the  acre,  30  to  40  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  and  every  kind  of  vege- 
table in  the  greatest  abundance.  I  harvested  off  my  farm,  this  season, 
15,000  bushels  of  corn ;  two  men  raised  for  me,  with  but  little  more 
than  their  own  labor,  about  7000  bushels  of  corn  and  oats ;  this  corn  is 
now  worth,  in  the  crib,  over  25  cents  per  bushel.  My  neighbors  raised 
from  25  to  38  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  and  sold  it  on  the  spot  at  from 
$1  25  to  SI  30  per  bushel.  Early  in  the  season,  Mr.  Cuthbertson,  a 
neighbor  of  mine,  sold  the  crop  of  wheat  off  of  fifty  acres  of  land,  as  it 
stood,  for  $1500  cash.  I  will  just  say,  sir,  that  in  Coles,  Champaign, 
Vermilion,  Moultrie,  and  the  adjoining  Counties,  are  as  good  lands  as 
the  sun  shines  upon ;  the  soil  is  rich  and  deep ;  timber  first  rate ;  water 
fine  and  sweet ;  health  as  good  as  any  where  in  the  States  ;  and  if  a  man 
can't  come  here  and  clear  the  whole  cost  of  his  land,  improvements  and 
all  expenses,  from  two  or  three  crops,  he  ought  to  be  hooted  out  of  the 
State  as  not  fit  to  be  called  a  farmer.  I  have  never  been  sick  one  whole 
day  in  thirty  years,  and  there  has  been  but  one  death  in  this  neighbor- 
hood this  season.  A  man  can  now  come  into  this  State,  and  buy  lands 
even  as  high  as  $15  per  acre,  and  make  them  pay  for  themselves  far 
more  easily  than  I  could  when  I  bought  lands  at  S2  to  S3  per  acre.  My 
advice  to  farmers  in  the  East  is  to  leave  their  rocks  and  hills,  where 
they  are  just  grubbing  out  a  living,  and  come  on  to  these  splendid  prai- 
ries, as  they  He  all  ready  for  the  plough,  and  where  every  thing  which 
the  farmer  plants  yields  such  an  abundant  return.  Last  spring,  I  thought 
I  would  go  over  into  Iowa  and  see  what  the  farmers  were  doing  there  ; 
so  I  went,  and  I'll  tell  you  what  I  found.     The  land  was  held  at  higher 


36 

prices  for  cash  than  you  could  buy  on  credit  in  this  State  ;  all  the  best 
of  it  was  in  the  hands  of  speculators  ;  it  was  not  a  good  winter  wheat 
country ;  fruit  did  not  grow  so  as  to  be  depended  upon  ;  there  was  no 
interior  market  for  produce,  except  the  demand  caused  by  emigration ; 
lumber,  such  as  pine  boards,  cost  about  $75  per  thousand  feet,  at  the 
Fort,  and  salt  $10  per  barrel.  There  is  more  timber  in  my  county 
(Coles)  than  I  saw  in  any  four  in  Iowa,  and  I  came  back  perfectly  sat- 
isfied that  there  is  no  State  in  the  whole  "West  equal  to  Illinois,  after  all 
that  can  be  said  in  favor  of  the  others. 

These,  gentlemen,  are  my  scattering  thoughts  on  things  as  they  have 
passed  before  my  own  eyes  during  thirty  years'  residence  in  this  State, 
or  travelling  over  the  neighboring  ones.  You  can  use  them  as  you  see 
fit,  while  I  subscribe  myself, 

Yours,  very  truly, 

JOHN  WILLIAMS. 


LETTER  FROM  REV.  JOHN  S.   BARGER, 

GIVING     HIS     EXPERIENCE     IN     BREAKING     UP     AND     CULTIVATING   A 
FARM    IN    THE    VICINITY    OF    THE    RAILROAD. 

Clinton,  De  Witt  Co.,  Illinois,  ? 
January  22,  1855.  £ 

Hon.  JonN  Wilson, 
Land  Commissioner. 

Dear  Sir :  Yours  of  the  8th  ult.  was  received  a  few  days  since,  and 
I  now  answer  it,  as  soon  as  has  been  consistent  with  other  obligations. 

The  statistical  information,  in  the  form  of  facts,  substantiated  by  farm- 
ers throughout  the  State,  which  you  propose  embodying  in  your  contem- 
plated circular,  designed  to  show  "  the  result  of  well-directed  efforts  in 
Illinois  farming,"  and  to  which  I  have  the  honor  of  being  requested  to 
contribute,  I  regret  to  say,  I  am  not  so  well  prepared  to  give  in  detail,  as 
many  others,  from  whom  doubtless  you  will  obtain  it.  Nevertheless,  I 
may  at  least  say,  that  in  your  very  complimentary  remark,  you  judge 
correctly  in  part,  that  "  among  those  who  have  broken  up  the  wild  prai- 
rie, and  by  judicious  management  realized  large  profits,"  I  have  been 
"  very  successful."  Yet,  when  the  fact  is  known,  as  it  should  be  in 
order  to  form  a  correct  judgment  in  my  case,  that  I  have  been  an  itiner- 
ant minister  in  the  M.  E.  Church,  without  any  cessation,  since  1823, 
(the  20th  year  of  my  age,)  it  will  be  reasonably  concluded  that  I  would 
have  been  yet  more  successful  had  my  efforts  and  management  been 
directed  by  the  superior  skill  of  a  well-trained  and  practical  farmer. 


37 

But  as  you  have  particularly  requested  the  facts  in  my  own  case,  as 
heretofore  explained  to  you,  I  here  offer  these  facts,  taken  from  my 
memoranda,  for  whatever  use  you  may  think  proper  to  make  of  them, 
and  will  leave  the  other  details  you  desire  to  other  hands,  better  pre- 
pared to  give  them. 

From  1848  to  1850,  I  purchased  in  De  Witt  County,  and  nearly  ad- 
joining Clinton,  (the  County  seat,)  400  acres  of  fine  farming  land, 
through  which  the  Illinois  Central  Railway  passes,  and  in  the  vicinity 
three  timbered  lots,  containing  140  acres,  making  540,  at  a  cost  of 
$1513  19.  In  the  spring  of  1853  I  determined  to  make  my  farm,  and 
accordingly  contracted  for  the  breaking  of  300  acres  at  $600  ;  also,  for 
making  400  rods  offence,  at  $4  75  per  100  rails  in  the  fence,  $494  19  ; 
making  together  $1094  19.  Having  obtained  the  privilege  of  joining 
to  720  rods  of  fence  on  adjoining  farms,  I  thus  enclosed  360  acres,  and 
had  280  prepared  for  seeding. 

The  breaking  was  done  from  the  27th  of  May  to  the  9th  of  July. 
The  greater  portion  of  this  ploughed  land  might,  therefore,  have  been 
planted  in  corn,  and  harvested  in  time  for  seeding  with  wheat ;  and  thus 
I  might  have  added  considerably  to  the  avails  of  the  first  year,  had  I  not 
been  80  miles  distant,  engaged  in  the  labors  of  the  Jacksonville  district. 

I  paid  for  seeding  300  acres, $230  00 

"  "         325  bushels  seed  wheat,      .        .        .243  75 

Add  the  cost  of  making  the  farm, 1,094  19     §1,567  94 

I  paid  for  harvesting,  threshing,  sacking,  and  delivering  at 
the  Clinton  Depot,  distant  from  the  farm  from  \  to  1J 

miles, 1,650  00 

Making  the  entire  expenditure, 3,217  94 

Sold  at  the  Clinton  Depot,  4378|§  bushels  wheat,  for  .    4,378  82 

I  kept  for  bread, 50  00 

Making  the  gross  income  of  the  first  year  of 4,42S  82 

From  which  take  the  entire  expenditure, 3,217  94 

And  you  have  the  net  proceeds  of  the  first  year,     ....      $1,21088 
To  which  add  the  cost  of  making  the  farm, 1,094  19 

Making  entile  avails  of  the  first  year, $2,305  07 


Furthermore,  to  do  justice  to  the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  and  to 
show  what  the  well-directed  efforts  and  judicious  management  of  a  well- 
trained  and  practical  Illinois  farmer  would  have  done,  it  should  be  stated 
that,  at  least  in  my  judgment,  some  1500  bushels  of  wheat  were  wasted 
by  untimely  and  careless  harvesting  and  threshing,  equal  to  $1500  net 
proceeds.     Then  add  $55  33,  excess  of  payments  for  ploughing  and 


seeding  only  280  acres,  which  a  skilful  farmer  would  have  known  before 
making  his  contracts,  and  you  have  a  loss,  which  ought  to  have  been  a 
gain,  of  $1555  33.  This  amount  saved  would  have  showed  the  avails 
of  the  first  year's  operation,  on  280  acres  of  the  farm,  to  have  been 
S38G0  40. 

Now,  sir,  if  one  under  such  circumstances,  with  but  little  more  than 
a  theoretical  knowledge  of  farming,  has  succeeded  even  thus  well,  hav- 
ing hired  all  the  labor,  and  mostly  at  very  high  prices,  how  much  larger 
profits  might  have  been  realized  by  a  skilful  and  practical  farmer,  de- 
voting his  whole  time  and  attention  to  his  appropriate  occupation  !  How 
much  more  successful  thousands  of  farmers  and  farmers'  sons  on  our 
Eastern  seaboard  and  in  our  Eastern  States  might  be,  were  they,  or 
could  they,  be  induced  to  move  on,  and  apply  their  skill,  industry, 
and  economy  in  the  cultivation  of  the  rich  and  productive  prairies  of 
Illinois  ! 

Let  them  come  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  —  there  is  room 
enough,  —  and  examine  the  country.  They  will  find  rich  lands,  and  good 
water,  and  general  health  almost  every  where.  This  is  not  a  wilderness. 
They  will  find  schools  and  churches  springing  up  in  almost  every  settle- 
ment made,  and  now  being  made,  throughout  the  State.  Illinois  is  not 
a  moral  desolation.  It  literally  and  spiritually  "  blossoms  as  the  rose." 
Let  them  come  to  Chicago,  and  go  to  Galena,  and  visit  Cairo.  But  let 
them  not  remain  at  either  place,  unless  they  choose.  The  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  and  its  branches  traverse  the  finest  portion  of  the  globe. 
Let  them  glide  through  our  State,  on  these  and  other  roads,  now  check- 
ering almost  the  entire  of  this  "  Garden  of  the  Lord,"  and  stop  where 
they  will,  to  "  examine  the  land,  of  what  sort  it  is,"  and  they  will  no 
longer  consent  to  dig  among  the  rocks,  and  plough  the  sterile  lands  of 
their  forefathers.  But  they  will  long  bless  the  day  when  they  found  for 
themselves  and  their  children  such  comfortable  homes  as  they  still  may 
obtain,  in  this  rich  and  beautiful  Prairie  State,  destined  soon  to  compare 
with,  nay,  to  surpass,  in  all  the  most  desirable  respects,  the  most  prosper- 
ous State  in  the  Union. 

I  will  now  give  you  a  concise  history  of  the  operations  of  Mr.  Funk. 
Both  before  and  since  his  marriage,  he  had  made  rails  for  his  neighbors 
at  twenty-five  cents  per  100.  But  when  the  lands  where  he  lived  came 
into  market,  25  years  ago,  he  had  saved  of  his  five  years'  earnings 
$1400,  and  says,  if  he  had  invested  it  all  in  lands  he  would  now  have 
been  rich.  With  $200  he  bought  his  first  quarter  section,  and  loaned 
to  his  neighbors  $800,  to  buy  their  homes  ;  and  with  the  remaining  $400 
he  purchased  a  lot  of  cattle.  With  this  beginning,  Mr.  Funk  now  owns 
7000  acres  of  land,  has  near   2700  in  cultivation,  and  his  last  year's 


39 

sale  of  cattle  and  hogs,  at  the  Chicago  market,  amounted  to  a  little  over 
$44,000. 

Mr.  Isaac  Funk,  of  Funk's  Grove,  nine  miles  distant  from  his 
brother  Jesse,  and  ten  miles  north-west  from  Bloomington,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Chicago  Railroad,  began  the  world  in  Illinois  at  the  same  time, 
having  a  little  the  advantage  of  Jesse,  so  far  as  having  a  little  borrowed 
capital.  He  now  owns  about  27,000  acres  of  land,  has  about  4000  acres 
in  cultivation,  and  his  last  sales  of  cattle  at  Chicago  amounted  to 
$65,000. 

These  families  have  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted  health.  Mr.  Isaac 
Funk  has  had  10  children,  and  Mr.  Jesse  Funk  8.  In  the  family  of 
Isaac,  one  died  of  fever  ;  and  in  that  of  Jesse,  one  by  an  accidental  fall 
from  a  wagon. 

Yours,  truly, 

JOHN  S.  BARGER. 


LETTER  FROM  JAMES  PHILLIPS,  ESQ. 

Nashville,  "Washington  Co.,  Illinois,  \ 
December  26,  1855  $ 

J.  B.  Austin,  Esq., 

Land  Department,  I.  C.  E.  E. 

Dear  Sir :  For  the  information  of  those  who  design  coming  West,  I 
forward  you  the  following  thoughts  about  our  country  —  a  portion  of  this 
great  valley  which  has  been,  to  a  great  extent,  hitherto  overlooked  by 
emigrants.  Until  quite  recently  we  were,  to  a  great  degree,  cut  off  from 
a  market.  Produce  could  not  be  transported  to  our  great  thoroughfares, 
the  freight,  in  many  instances,  costing  more  than  the  article  would  bring 
when  taken  to  the  nearest  shipping  point.  Now,  however,  the  case  is  quite 
different.  A  market  has  been  created  by  railroads,  at  our  own  homes, 
for  every  article  the  tiller  of  the  soil  produces.  Formerly  our  farmers 
raised  their  products,  then  fed  the  same  to  their  horses,  cattle,  sheep, 
hogs,  &c,  looking  forward  from  one  to  four  years  for  a  time  when  this 
stock  could  be  advantageously  cashed.  Now,  his  corn,  wheat,  oats, 
beans,  hay,  &c,  command  fair  rates  at  the  nearest  depot  so  soon  as  de- 
livered ;  thus  giving  him  a  cjuick  return,  instead  of  the  long  one  he  pre- 
viously received. 

Our  climate  is  temperate.  We  neither  have  the  protracted  cold  of 
the  lakes  of  the  North,  nor  the  sultry  heat  of  the  South.  This  country 
will  compare  favorably  with  any  other  portion  of  the  Mississippi  valley 


40 

for  health.  We  are  exempt  from  the  consumption  of  the  Eastern 
States,  from  the  low  fevers  of  the  Southern  States,  and  comparatively 
free  from  those  miasmatic  diseases  of  the  Western  States  in  their  early 
settlement ;  and  in  proportion  as  our  country  is  tilled,  as  the  primeval 
surface  gives  place  to  cultivation,  will  these  latter  disappear  also.  Ex- 
cellent water  is  obtained  at  an  average  depth,  almost  any  where,  of 
twenty  feet.  Our  soil  is  of  an  excellent  quality,  surface  pleasantly  un- 
dulating, enough  so  to  avoid  swamps  on  the  one  hand,  and  not  too 
broken  on  the  other.  Timber  is  both  good  and  plentiful.  Some  of  our 
prairies  are  a  little  larger  than  we  could  desire,  but  in  them  hedges 
thrive  for  fencing,  so  well,  indeed,  that  many  of  our  farmers  are  hedging 
who  have  an  abundance  of  timber  near  by  their  farms.  Our  population 
is  rapidly  increasing  by  the  influx  of  an  intelligent  and  well-to-do  class 
of  people. 

We  have  the  land  here  that  can  now  produce  100  bushels  corn  to  an 

acre,  or  at  least  the  stalks  are  now  standing  from  which  Mr.  G , 

our  sheriff,  gathered  that  amount.  There  is  a  farmer  near  by  me,  who 
ploughed  up  in  the  summer  a  piece  of  land  of  a  medium  quality ;  in  the 
fall  he  put  it  down  in  wheat,  and  the  following  harvest  (the  late  summer) 
he  took  off  between  thirty  and  forty  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  this  with- 
out any  particular  or  special  care  about  it.  Oats,  rye,  barley,  buck- 
wheat, beans,  peas,  potatoes,  and  most  garden  vegetables  that  grow  in 
temperate  climates,  flourish  here  luxuriantly.  A  friend  of  mine,  last 
spring,  a  young  farmer,  planted  a  peck  of  potatoes  ;  his  family  consisted 
of  himself,  wife,  and  two  children  ;  they  made  almost  daily  use  of  his 
potatoes  from  the  time  there  were  any  small  ones  to  be  found,  until 
digging  time,  when  he  took  out  nine  bushels  of  potatoes  for  winter  use. 
A  remark  here  :  None  of  these  lands  were  manured  ;  that  is  a  word  not 
to  be  found  in  our  farmer's  lexicon.  Not  that  manuring  would  not  pay ; 
but  what  is  the  use  ?  All  we  have  to  do  is  to  turn  down  with  a  sod 
plough,  at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  acres  a  day,  stick  in  the  corn  with  an 
axe,  and  come  out  in  the  fall  for  the  crop.  Or,  if  we  wish  to  sow 
wheat,  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  harrow  a  couple  of  times,  and  sow  down 
the  wheat.  No  lands,  perhaps,  under  the  sun,  are  capable  of  being  ren- 
dered more  fertile  and  productive  by  rotation  of  crops  and  all  the  appli- 
ances of  scientific  husbandry. 

There  is  Mr.  K ,  who  came  here  a  poor  adventurer,  with  nothing 

of  this  world's  goods  ;  he  went  to  farming,  continued  it  assiduously, 
turning  his  farm  produce  into  stock,  his  stock  into  cash,  and  his  cash 
into  lands.     He  is  now  worth  about  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

A  son  of  the  preceding  commenced  about  ten  years  ago  doing  business 
for  himself.     He  had  about  one  thousand  dollars  to  start  with,  and   has 


41 

gone  on  increasing  his  wealth  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand  a  year.     This 
was  done  exclusively  by  farming. 

Colonel  P came  here  as  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  this  coun- 
try, went  to  tilling  the  land,  followed  it  up  to  the  present  time,  engaging 
in  nothing  else.  He  is  now  worth  about  twenty  thousand,  having  begun 
with  less  than  one  hundred  dollars.  These  are  a  few  of  the  many  that 
might  be  given.  One  remark  about  this  country :  One  fair  crop  of  any 
of  the  usual  grains  grown  here  is  worth,  when  harvested,  what  the  land 
will  cost ;  so  that  an  emigrant  can  easily  calculate  what  he  can  do  on  an 
average.  Thus,  if  he  can  plant  and  till  one  hundred  acres  of  land  by 
putting  in  corn  or  wheat,  he  can  pretty  safely  estimate,  when  he 
threshes  his  wheat,  or  cribs  his  corn,  that  it  will  be  worth  the  prime  cost 
of  his  one  hundred  acres  of  land.  This  is  not  all ;  for  when  his  land  is 
ploughed  and  fenced  it  is  worth  double  what  it  was  before  subjugation. 

In  conclusion  I  would  say,  we  are  not  crowded  by  reason  of  the  densi- 
ty of  our  population.  We  need  a  large  increase  of  intelligent,  industri- 
ous, persevering  young  farmers.  As  yet  but  about  one  fourth  of  our 
lands  are  fenced  ;  and  we  have  but  a  tithe  of  the  wealth  and  population 
we  shall  have  when  this  great  valley  shall  become  the  agricultural  cen- 
tre of  the  earth,  and  Illinois  its  most  favored  spot. 
Yours  respectfully, 

JAMES   PHILLIPS 


LETTER  FROM  A.  J.  GALLOWAY,  ESQ. 

farm  in  the  vicinity  of  the  company's  lands. 

Ewtngton,  Effingham  Co.,  Illinois,  ) 
February  12,  1855.  \ 

Hon.  John  Wilson, 

Land  Commissioner,  Illinois  Central  Railroad. 

Dear  Sir :  My  residence  in  Illinois  began  in  April,  1837.  During 
the  first  four  years  I  resided  in  Wabash  County,  after  which  I  removed 
to  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  and  in  1842  purchased  some  lands  in 
La  Salle  County.  From  that  until  the  present  time  I  have  been  making, 
cultivating,  and  extending  my  farm. 

The  subsoil  of  the  prairie  land  throughout  the  State,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, is  a  compact  clay,  through  which  water  settles  but  slowly,  thus 
securing  great  durability  to  the  natural  soil,  as  well  as  effectually  pre- 
venting the  escape  of  artificial  manures,  by  the  process  of  leaching. 
Upon  very  level  prairie,  this  characteristic  causes  the  land  to  be  too  wet 
6 


42 

for  the  profitable  cultivation  of  the  several  kinds  of  grain,  without  some 
special  preparation  ;  this,  however,  may  be  almost  universally  overcome 
by  manuring,  and  deep  and  thorough  ploughing ;  deep  ploughing  alone 
will  prove  effectual  in  a  large  majority  of  instances. 

South  of  the  parallel  of  forty-one  degrees  north  latitude,  the  staple 
production  is,  and  must  continue  to  be,  Indian  corn,  or  maize,  though 
almost  all  grain  and  vegetables,  grown  in  a  temperate  climate,  mav  be 
profitably  cultivated,  and  should  not  be  neglected. 

During  my  residence  upon  my  farm  in  La  Salle  County,  our  average 
crop  of  corn,  say  on  a  field  of  eighty  acres,  did  not  vary  much  from  fifty 
bushels  per  acre.  Winter  wheat,  (for  I  think  spring  wheat  a  nui- 
sance,) upon  a  field  of  thirty  acres,  varied  in  different  years  from  nine- 
teen to  twenty-three  bushels  per  acre,  harvested  with  McCormick's  Reap- 
er, and  threshed  and  separated  by  machines  built  at  Alton,  Illinois. 
Oats  varied  from  forty  to  sixty  bushels  per  acre,  and  in  one  instance, 
upon  a  small  lot  of  four  acres,  I  obtained  almost  one  hundred  bushels 
per  acre. 

My  estimate  for  the  cost  of  production  and  preparation  for  market? 
previous  to  1850,  after  allowing  thirty-three  per  cent,  of  the  crop  for  the 
use  of  the  land,  was  forty  cents  per  bushel  for  wheat,  and  about  fifteen 
cents  per  bushel  for  corn  and  oats. 

I  could  usually  obtain  good  farm  hands  (men)  at  one  hundred  to  one 
bundred  and  twenty  dollars  per  year,  with  board  and  lodging  furnished. 

The  many  difficulties  with  which  a  single  hand  upon  a  farm  has  to 
contend,  render  it  hard  to  say  what  one  man,  with  a  pah'  of  horses,  can 
cultivate  properly  —  certainly  not  to  exceed  forty  acres ;  whereas  two 
men,  with  four  horses,  could  readily  manage  a  hundred  acres,  and  three 
men,  with  about  five  horses,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  in  addition  to 
the  usual  amount  of  land  devoted  to  meadow  and  grasses. 

In  reply  to  your  ninth  interrogatory,  I  would  say  that  south  of  the 
parallel  I  have  mentioned,  nearly  one  half  of  the  whole  farm  devoted  to 
grain  and  vegetables  should  be  planted  in  corn,  and  three  fourths  of  the 
remainder  in  wheat  and  oats,  in  about  equal  quantities.  The  cultivation 
of  barley,  rye,  potatoes,  &c,  should  be  governed  by  the  character  of  the 
farm,  its  position  in  relation  to  markets,  and  somewhat  by  the  tastes, 
education,  and  habits  of  the  farmer. 

In  La  Salle  County,  where  wood  land  is  not  so  plenty  as  it  is  in  this 
region,  a  good  common  rail  fence  would  cost  about  seventy-five  cents  per 
rod ;  but  I  have  contracted  for  a  number  of  miles  of  such  fence,  eight 
rails  high,  staked  and  riddered,  with  a  sound  block  under  each  corner, 
to  be  built  in  this  and  some  other  counties  for  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, at  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  per  rod. 


43     . 

I  have  tried  different  methods  of  turning  up  or  breaking  prairie  sod, 
and  am  fully  satisfied  that  where  the  prairie  is  clear,  that  is,  destitute  of 
hazel  bushes,  or  other  woody  growth,  a  man  who  understands  the  busi- 
ness, with  a  good  pair  of  horses  and  a  plough  properly  constructed,  such 
as  was  manufactured  a  few  years  since  in  Indian  Town,  Bureau  County, 
can  do  the  work  better  and  cheaper  than  in  any  other  way  that  has  ever 
come  under  my  observation.  One  acre  and  a  half  per  day  is  the  fair 
average  for  such  a  team.  Prairie  should  always  be  broken  between  the 
10th  of  May  and  the  20th  of  June,  in  the  latitude  of  La  Salle  County. 
In  this  county  the  work  should  be  completed  as  early  as  the  10th  of  June. 

For  persons  wishing  to  make  a  settlement  in  Illinois,  I  should  advise 
about  the  same  course  for  almost  any  part  of  the  State  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  The  first  thing  such  person  should  do  is  to  make  a  per- 
sonal examination  of  the  country,  and  select  a  location.  Then,  if  he 
should  have  the  means  to  spare,  and  could  purchase  forty  or  eighty  acres 
of  good  prairie  land,  not  more  than  five  miles  from  where  materials  for 
building,  fencing,  and  fuel,  can  be  obtained  at  reasonable  rates,  and  get  a 
long  credit  upon  three  fourths  of  the  purchase  money,  I  should  advise 
him  to  secure  it  at  once. 

He  should  then  procure  a  good  pair  of  horses  and  wagon,  a  cow,  a 
few  pigs,  and  some  poultry,  and  two  good  ploughs,  one  for  breaking 
prairie  and  the  other  for  cultivating  land  already  subdued.  Thus  pro- 
vided, it  would  be  well  if  he  could  rent  a  small  tenement  with  a  few 
acres  of  improved  land  near  his  own,  for  a  year  or  two,  until  he  could 
get  his  farm  under  way.  But  if  no  such  tenement  could  be  obtained, 
he  should  at  once  build  a  cheap  house  upon  his  own  land,  and  push  for- 
ward his  improvements. 

Prairie  sod  broken  in  the  manner  and  at  the  time  heretofore  stated, 
will  be  sufficiently  rotten  to  cross-plough  as  early  as  the  10th  of  Au- 
gust. This  cross-ploughing  should  not  be  neglected,  and  in  the  north  of 
the  State  wheat  should  be  sown  broadcast,  and  harrowed  both  ways,  or 
drilled  in  by  a  proper  machine,  about  the  1st  of  September.  Wheat 
sown  upon  such  land  in  this  manner  rarely  fails  to  produce  an  excellent 
crop.  The  next  two  years  after  the  wheat  is  taken  off  the  ground,  two 
good  crops  of  corn  may  be  produced,  with  comparatively  little  labor. 
Oats  is  perhaps  the  proper  grain  for  the  fourth  crop  ;  and  by  that  time, 
if  the  new  settler  be  a  man  of  reasonably  perceptive  powers,  he  will 
have  made  himself  sufficiently  well  acquainted  with  the  soil,  climate,  ro- 
tation of  crops,  &c,  to  manage  his  farm  to  good  advantage.  Much  may 
be  learned  from  the  many  agricultural  periodicals  with  which  our  coun- 
try abounds,  and  no  farmer  should  be  without  one  or  more  of  these  valua- 
ble aids.     But,  to  succeed  well,  he  must  thoroughly  investigate  the  local 


44 

peculiarities  of  his  own  neighborhood,  and  especially  those  of  his  own 
farm. 

There  is  a  general  and  growing  disposition  throughout  the  State  to 
educate  ;  and  in  a  very  few  years,  all  the  educational  facilities  which 
exist  in  the  Eastern  States  will  be  at  the  command  of  the  citizens  of 
Illinois. 

There  is  little  disease  at  any  time  in  the  State,  which  may  not  be 
traced,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  derangement  in  the  biliary  organs ;  and 
much  of  this  should,  no  doubt,  be  attributed  to  the  free  use  of  heavy 
bread,  strong  coffee,  and  a  large  amount  of  animal  food,  to  the  partial  or 
total  exclusion  of  vegetable  diet.  I  think  I  am  free  from  prejudice 
when  I  say  that,  except  in  the  valleys  of  the  larger  streams,  but  more 
especially  upon  the  high  rolling  prairies  of  Middle  and  Northern  Illinois, 
a  more  healthy  country  is  not  to  be  found,  even  in  the  mountainous  dis- 
tricts of  the  older  States. 

In  these  hasty  lines,  I  have  endeavored  to  answer  some  of  your  inter- 
rogatories as  categorically  as  their  nature  would  permit,  without  attempt- 
ing to  sustain  my  opinions  by  argument.  If  they  should  prove  of  the 
least  service  to  you  or  others,  I  shall  be  more  than  compensated  for  the 
very  little  time  and  attention  which  I  have  felt  at  liberty  to  bestow  upon 
them.  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

A.  J.  GALLOWAY. 


LETTER  FROM   C.  G.  TAYLOR,  ESQ. 

Pleasant  Ridge,  Rock  Island  Co.,  Illinois,  1 
December  22,  1856.  J 

Joseph  B.  Austin,  Esq. 

Land  Department,  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Co. 

Dear  Sir :  Your  letter  requesting  me  to  furnish  the  public,  through 
your  published  circular,  with  information  as  to  the  method  and  results  of 
farming,  as  practised  in  Illinois,  reached  me  a  few  days  since.  I  will 
cheerfully  do  all  in  my  power  to  effect  your  object,  though  I  trust  you 
will  hear  from  others  more  versed  in  writing  than  myself. 

I  was  raised  in  Jefferson  County,  New  York  State,  amidst  the  log 
cabins,  stumps,  rocks,  and  snow  banks ;  my  father  was  a  farmer,  and  I 
know  full  well  what  it  costs  to  farm  in  Northern  New  York,  from  the 
felling  of  the  first  tree  to  placing  the  land  under  a  good  state  of  cultiva- 
tion. In  the  spring  of  1844,  I  removed  to  this  State,  and  have  been 
engaged  in  farming  most  of  the  time  since.     The  soil  of  this  portion  of 


45 

Illinois  is  a  dark,  rich  mould,  varying  from  two  to  six  feet  in  depth,  with 
clay  bottom ;  there  is  but  little  sandy  soil  hereabouts ;  about  one  tenth 
of  the  country  is  covered  with  fine  timber,  mostly  on  the  borders  of  our 
rivers  and  small  streams ;  timber  land  is  held  at  from  $10  to  $50  per 
acre,  according  to  quality  and  location.  Our  water  is  usually  hard.  The 
surface  of  the  land  in  this  county  being  generally  level,  but  few  spring? 
are  afforded ;  the  best  of  water,  however,  can  be  readily  obtained  by 
digging,  and  is  usually  found  in  abundance,  at  the  depth  of  from  ten  to 
twenty-five  feet.  There  is  also  a  plentiful  supply  for  stock,  in  our  ra- 
vines, small  streams,  and  sloughs.  Stone  and  brick,  for  cellars  and 
buildings,  are  scarce  on  these  prairies ;  but  cement,  plastered  on  a  mud 
wall,  answers  very  well,  and  makes  a  neat  and  dry  cellar.  Pine  lumber 
and  oak  posts  are  now  mostly  used  by  the  new  settlers  for  fencing ;  a 
good  fence  can  be  put  up  at  from  eighty  cents  to  one  dollar  and  a  quar- 
ter per  rod,  according  to  the  number  of  boards  high  the  fence  may  be 
built.  No  settler,  new  or  old,  should  neglect,  however,  to  raise  the 
Osage  Orange  or  Madura  hedge,  as,  with  proper  care,  in  four  years 
time  he  can  have  the  most  durable  and  beautiful  living  fence,  the  entire 
cost  of  which  will  not  have  exceeded  25  or  30  cents  per  rod.  Mate- 
rials for  building  are  procured  from  rafts  on  our  rivers,  or  at  Chicago, 
from  whence  they  are  conveyed,  by  railroads,  to  any  part  of  the  State. 

The  breaking  of  prairie  is  mostly  done  in  May  or  June,  though  it  can 
be  carried  on  at  any  season  when  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground.  Many 
farmers  use  the  heavy  breaking  plough,  cutting  a  furrow  from  eighteen 
to  twenty-six  inches  wide,  and  about  three  inches  deep,  requiring  a  force 
of  from  three  to  six  yoke  of  oxen ;  of  late,  however,  so  many  improve- 
ments have  been  made  in  the  form  and  draught  of  ploughs,  that  the 
prairie  can  be  readily  broken,  at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  quarter  to  one 
and  a  half  acres  per  day,  with  a  single  pair  of  horses ;  and  this  mode  I 
think  preferable  to  the  use  of  the  heavy  plough  and  large  teams.  This 
every  farmer  can  do  with  his  own  team,  and  at  his  leisure.  I  break 
from  fifteen  to  thirty  acres  annually,  commencing  soon  after  corn  plant- 
ing, and  thus  add  every  year  to  my  improvements,  within  my  own  mean?. 
There  are  several  Plough  Factories  in  this  State,  where  ploughs,  made 
of  the  best  steel,  and  on  the  newest  plans,  may  be  purchased  for  about 
$1G  each.  These  are  made  with  a  rolling  colter,  which  I  consider  the 
best.  I  will  here  remark  that  ploughs  made  of  cast  iron  will  not  work 
well  in  our  soil,  as  it  is  impossible  to  keep  them  bright ;  only  those  made 
of  the  best  of  steel,  and  of  the  right  turn  and  shape,  will  scour  in  our 
rich,  loose  mould.  All  kinds  suitable  for  our  soil  are  made  in  the  State, 
and  delivered  by  railroad,  at  any  point,  at  reasonable  rates. 

Sod  corn,  if  planted  in  the  month  of  May.  and  followed  by  favorable 


46 

weather,  viz.,  warm  and  wet,  will  yield  from  twenty  to  fifty  bushels  per 
acre.  The  planting  is  done  by  sticking  an  axe  or  spade  between  the 
layers  of  sod,  and  after  dropping  the  corn,  applying  the  heel  of  the  boot 
freely.     It  needs  no  culture. 

If  a  very  light  crop  of  corn  is  raised,  the  stalks  may  be  removed,  and 
the  ground  sown  with  winter  wheat.  If  a  heavy  crop,  it  will  take  too 
much  work  to  clear  the  ground  of  the  stalks,  and  the  stumps  and  roots 
will  be  a  great  hinderance  to  the  harrow,  as  the  corn  roots  are  strongly 
set  in  the  sod.  If  the  sod  crop  cannot  be  relied  on  with  safety,  it  is, 
perhaps,  better  to  let  the  sod  lie  until  September,  and  then  sow  with 
winter  wheat,  and  harrow  thoroughly.  This  is  almost  invariably  a  sure 
crop,  more  so  than  any  of  the  after  ones,  as  the  sod  holds  the  roots  dur- 
ing our  usually  dry  and  snowless  winter.  Or,  the  sod  may  lie  till  spring, 
and  then  be  sown  with  spring  wheat,  and  harrowed  only.  Let  it  be 
cross-ploughed,  and  we  have  what  no  field  can  be  in  the  Eastern  States, 
with  all  the  manure  combined.  The  soil  being  a  black  mould,  and  very 
mellow,  any  thing  will  grow  in  it  that  grows  in  this  latitude.  Spring 
wheat  and  oats  are  liable  to  grow  too  rank.  They  should  be  sown  as 
soon  as  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground,  that  the  straw  may  have  a  stunted 
growth.  If  sown  late,  say  after  the  first  of  April,  too  much  straw  is 
grown,  which  is  liable  to  cause  the  wheat  to  blast,  smut,  <fcc.  We  have 
no  summer  fallows  in  this  section,  and  I  have  seen  none  in  Illinois. 

We  raise  but  little  winter  wheat;  (in  this  particular  section  of  the 
State,)  after  the  first  crop,  on  the  first  breaking,  until  we  break  up  a 
tame  meadow  or  pasture  ;  then  again  we  have  a  fine  crop.  Our  usual 
mode  of  raising  spring  wheat,  oats,  and  barley,  is  to  sow  on  the  fall 
ploughing,  or  on  corn  ground  without  ploughing,  —  only  harrowing.  I 
raise  all  my  small  grain  as  above,  ploughing  no  land  in  the  spring,  ex- 
cept for  corn  and  vegetables.  My  crops  for  several  years  past  have 
averaged,  Corn  75  bushels  per  acre,  Oats  GO  bushels,  Spring  Wheat  25 
bushels,  Potatoes  varying  from  100  to  300  bushels. 

One  team  can  do  the  work  on  a  farm  of  fifty  or  sixty  acres,  if  all  the 
breaking  is  done.  All  stubble  land  should  be  ploughed  in  the  fall,  and 
be  ready  for  the  small  grain  in  the  spring.  One  man  and  two  horses 
can  easily  tend  thirty  to  forty  acres  of  corn,  one  ploughing  for  which  is 
sufficient;  then  mark  off  both  ways  rows  about  three  and  a  half  feet 
wide,  and  plant  the  seed  with  a  machine  or  a  hoc.  A  man  can  cover 
four  acres  per  day  ;  a  small  boy  can  drop  the  seed.  The  hoe  is  hardly 
ever  used,  as  we  have  machines  which  drop  and  cover  by  man  or  horse 
power.  We  harrow  with  a  three-cornered  harrow,  by  knocking  out  the 
forward  teeth,  as  soon  as  the  corn  is  out  of  the  ground,  then  use  the  cul- 
tivator, or  one  horse  plough,  and  work  it  both  ways  ;  twice  working  after 
harrowing  is  sufficient;  no  hoeing   required.     A  fair   yield  of   winter 


47       , 

wheat  is  about  twenty-five  bushels  per  acre ;  spring  wheat,  twenty  to 
thirty ;  oats,  forty  to  seventy-five ;  barley,  twenty  to  forty ;  winter  rye, 
twenty  to  thirty ;  corn,  forty  to  eighty ;  potatoes,  one  hundred  to  three 
hundred. 

We  commence  to  harvest  our  corn  about  the  10  th  of  October.  There 
is  more  harvested  in  December  than  in  any  other  month.  Corn  can  be 
raised  and  cribbed  at  15  cents  per  bushel.  Our  small  grain  is  all  cut  by 
machinery.  A  machine,  followed  by  six  binders,  cuts  and  shocks  from 
ten  to  fifteen  acres  per  day.  Price  of  cutting,  GO  to  75  cents  per  acre. 
To  binders  we  pay  from  $1  to  $1  50  per  day.  As  it  is  impossible  to 
house  all  the  grain,  it  is  stacked.  Threshing  is  also  done  by  machinery. 
This,  with  cleaning,  will  cost  5  cents  per  bushel  for  wheat ;  oats,  2^-  cents. 

The  straw  is  usually  stacked;  to  which  the  cattle  have  free  access  dur- 
ing the  winter. 

Our  market  is  at  Chicago  or  St.  Louis.  No  part  of  our  State  is  far 
from  railroad  or  steamboat  shipping,  having  about  2400  miles  of  the  for- 
mer now  in  good  running  order,  and  about  1000  miles  of  river  naviga- 
tion, besides  our  Canal  and  Lake  coast. 

Our  charges  correspond  with  the  Eastern  market,  with  the  freight 
charge  deducted. 

Our  soil  is  well  calculated  for  the  production  of  the  tame  grasses. 
Our  meadows  yield  from  one  and  a  half  to  three  tons  per  acre.  Ground 
that  has  been  mown  for  ten  or  fifteen  years  produces  better  crops  than 
the  new  land,  because  the  top  soil,  which  is  principally  composed  of 
decayed  grass  and  the  ashes  deposited  by  annual  burnings,  is  very  loose 
and  open.  After  deep  ploughing,  and  comparatively  using  up  this  top 
soil,  we  obtain  a  more  compact  and  fine  soil,  which  will  hold  the  roots  of 
the  grass  firm  and  secure.  Clover  grows  luxuriantly,  but  the  trouble  is, 
there  is  not  a  sufficient  quantity  sown  to  supply  the  great  demand. 

There  has  been,  until  lately,  but  little  attention  paid  to  the  raising  of 
stock.  At  this  present  time,  we  can  boast  of  being  equal  to  the  other 
States  in  some  choice  selections  of  the  best  stock  in  the  Union.  Only  a 
small  portion  of  prairie  is  yet  broken.  The  cattle  roam  as  upon  a 
"  thousand  hills "  during  the  summer ;  but  in  the  winter  are  fed  upon 
straw,  standing  cornstalks,  and  prairie  hay.  Very  little  corn  fodder  is 
cut  and  cured,  being  too  heavy  to  handle.  Probably  three  fourths  of  our 
hay,  as  yet,  is  cut  upon  the  prairie,  which  makes,  if  well  cured,  excellent 
feed.  Any  quantity  of  this  hay  can  be  cut  in  any  section,  yielding  from 
one  to  three  tons  per  acre.  I  have  fed,  for  several  winters,  between 
sixty  and  ninety  head  of  cattle  upon  prairie  hay,  and  have  not  lost  a 
single  one  by  disease.  Our  hay  is  cut  by  mowing  machines,  at  a  cost 
of  75  cents  to  SI  per  ton,  taking  it  after  the  machine,  the  buyer  raking, 
and  hauling  it  home.     The  feed  for  a  cow,  aside  from  grain,  will  not 


48 

exceed  $4  per  year.  Our  pasture  is  free.  Our  prairie  grass  is  fully 
equal  to  tame  grass,  for  butter,  cheese,  &c.,  up  to  the  time  of  frost,  which 
is  usually  about  the  10th  of  October.  The  product  from  my  dairy  of 
about  thirty-five  cows,  for  the  last  six  years,  has  been  on  an  average 
about  $24  per  cow,  besides  the  slop  for  hogs,  and  the  feed  for  nearly  as 
many  calves.  For  the  last  two  years,  in  the  fall,  the  price  of  butter  has 
been  from  20  to  25  cents  per  pound,  and  cheese  10  to  15  cents.  I  think 
these  figures  will  be  near  the  standard  for  years  to  come. 

In  regard  to  fruit,  I  will  say  that  there  is  a  very  growing  attention 
now  paid  to  raising  the  choicer  varieties,  and  we  have  all  the  best  which 
will  flourish  in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States.  At  the  nurseries  in  this 
State,  all  desirable  varieties  may  be  purchased  at  fair  prices.  There  is 
no  State  in  the  Union  that  can  support  so  large  a  population  as  Illinois. 
Now,  not  more  than  one  sixth  part  of  the  surface  is  under  cultivation. 
There  is  scarcely  an  acre  that  can  be  called  ivaste  ground.  "We  have  no 
mountains  nor  rocks ;  no  stumps  to  grub  out ;  no  stones  to  pick  off,  and 
seldom  a  snow  bank  to  wallow  through.  I  believe  if  this  State  was  cul- 
tivated as  New  York  or  Massachusetts,  it  would  feed  the  Union. 

A  grant  of  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  former  government  lands  was 
set  apart  by  Congress  for  public  schools.  Our  State  debt  will  all  be 
paid  in  a  few  years  by  the  internal  resources,  without  the  increase  of 
taxation.  This  debt  has  been  a  bugbear  to  some  of  our  Eastern  friends, 
declining  to  locate  with  us,  for  fear  of  being  obliged  to  help  pay  it.  This 
objection  is  now  removed.  Why  the  Eastern  emigrants  seek  a  home  in 
Nebraska,  Minnesota,  or  even  in  Iowa,  is  strange  to  my  mind.  Illinois 
has  all  the  advantages  that  any  reasonable  man  could  desire.  Our  rail- 
roads are  now  so  connected  that  we  have  quick  and  easy  access  to  any 
part  of  the  Union,  while  the  Eastern  market  is  brought  to  our  very  door. 
For  the  last  three  years,  there  have  been,  each  season,  50,000  bushels  of 
Wheat,  25,000  bushels  of  Oats,  and  75,000  bushels  of  Corn  raised  im- 
mediately around,  and  fairly  in  sight  from,  my  house.  As  to  health,  we 
are  willing  to  enter  into  comparison  with  any  State  in  the  Union.  Con- 
sumption, which  carries  off  its  victims  by  thousands  in  the  Eastern 
States,  is  almost  unknown  here,  and  I  can  have  no  doubt  but  that  the 
most  cautious  of  our  Eastern  friends,  upon  a  full  examination  of  the 
facts  and  statistics  connected  with  our  State  and  neighborhood,  would  be 
entirely  satisfied  that  prudence  in  living,  and  a  clear  conscience,  bring 
with  them  the  same  ruddy  cheek  and  vigorous  life  as  are  found  existing 
in  any  State  or  country  in  the  world.  I  have  endeavored  to  bring 
this  letter  up  to  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  this  portion  of  our  State, 
and  would  request  you  to  publish  it  instead  of  my  former  one,  now  sev- 
eral years  old.  Very  respectfully  yours, 

C.  G.  TAYLOR. 


49 


ILLINOIS  THROUGH  MASSACHUSETTS  SPECTACLES. 

Permit  roe,  as  a  Massachusetts  farmer,  under  the  above  heading,  to 
give  a  faint  glimpse  of  some  matters  and  tilings  in  the  Prairie  State  — 
as  seen  through  my  glasses. 

Every  farmer  knows  well  the  benefit  of  crossing  his  stock,  and  it  may 
be  that  ideas  improve  under  a  similar  law  ;  at  the  worst,  I  shall  be  safe, 
as  there  is  no  possible  danger  for  me  to  lose  by  the  cross,  but  have  every 
chance  to  gain. 

It  will  not  do  for  the  New  England  man  to  come  here  and  carry  out 
all  his  notions  of  economy ;  his  ideas  will  be  altogether  too  contracted ; 
he  only  knows  of  farming  upon  a  limited  scale,  and  "  under  difficulties." 
In  this  State,  nature  has  done  much  for  the  husbandman,  and  his  system 
of  agriculture  must  be  as  broad  and  comprehensive  as  the  prairies  them- 
selves. In  New  England,  there  is  more  calculation,  more  order,  more 
method,  more  finish ;  the  soil  being  so  sterile,  the  people  have  been  ne- 
cessitated to  learn  these  sterling  qualities.  In  this  State,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  they  seem  but  little  practised ;  but  there  is  no  spot  on  the  globe 
where  it  would  pay  better.  It  is  true,  the  land  fever  has  raged  exten- 
sively among  your  farmers,  and  they  have  invested  every  spare  dollar  hi 
increasing  the  number  of  their  acres,  instead  of  building  houses  and 
barns,  and  purchasing  farming  utensils,  and  giving  their  homes  an  air  of 
comfort ;  and  it  has  proved  to  be  a  good  investment :  but  there  are  very 
many  who  have  secured  the  number  of  acres  to  satisfy  them,  who  have 
all  kinds  of  stock  in  abundance,  and  money  besides,  who  do  not  live  and 
enjoy  the  comforts  of  home  and  social  life  in  so  high  a  degree  as  the 
mechanic  in  New  England,  who  supports  himself  and  his  family  upon 
one  dollar  and  a  half  per  day.  This  class  of  farmers  have,  no  doubt, 
generally  commenced  poor,  and  struggled  with  all  the  disadvantages  of  a 
border  life,  until  the  introduction  of  railroads  into  the  State,  when  they 
availed  themselves  of  the  benefits,  and  found  fortunes  in  the  sudden  rise 
in  the  value  of  their  estates,  but  have  no  desire  further  to  improve  their 
condition. 

So  far  as  health  is  concerned,  time  will  prove  that  the  prairies  of  the 
"West  will  compare  well  with  any  of  the  Eastern  States.  Eastern  people 
have  made  a  big  bugbear  out  of  the  miasma  of  the  prairies  ;  but  if  they 
will  turn  their  attention  to  the  thousands  of  alder  swamps  between  their 
hills,  where  the  sun  and  wind  are  almost  strangers,  they  will  discover 
more  causes  of  ill  health  concentrated  there  in  a  few  acres,  than  are  scat- 
tered over  a  whole  prairie,  where  the  purifying  influences  of  the  sun 
and  wind  have  full  scope.    This  season  has  been  an  unusually  unhealthy 


50 

one  for  this  State ;  but  during  the  most  sickly  time,  I  was  wandering 
over  the  prairies,  and  I  saw  but  few  instances  where  the  ill  health  could 
not  be  directly  traced  to  infringements  of  physical  laws,  either  through 
ignorance  or  necessity.  In  some  cases  of  chills  and  fever  that  have 
come  under  my  observation,  a  few  outward  applications  of  soap  and 
water  no  doubt  would  have  relieved  the  patient.  Then,  again,  if  the 
pioneers  would  eat  less  pork,  and  more  fruit  and  vegetables,  it  would  be 
much  better  for  them  ;  and  I  only  wonder,  all  things  considered,  that 
there  is  so  much  health  there,  the  people  are  such  big  sinners  in  a  physi- 
cal point  of  view.  Pure  water  is  an  important  item  in  the  bill  of  health, 
though  it  is  but  little  attended  to.  People  all  over  the  prairies  drink 
surface  water,  when,  with  digging  or  boring,  pure  water  can  be  had ;  or, 
what  might  be  still  better  for  family  use,  cisterns  can  be  sunk  in  the 
earth  at  a  trifling  expense,  to  save  all  the  rain  water  from  buildings. 
When  the  new  settlers  get  the  conveniences  of  life  around  them,  the 
prairies  will  be  regarded  as  more  healthy  than  the  Eastern  States.  The 
fevers  of  the  "West  will  never  be  a  match  for  the  consumption  of  the 
East. 

Now  to  fai'ming.  At  the  East,  large  stories  are  in  circulation  about 
the  productiveness  of  Illinois,  and  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I  have  seen 
with  my  own  eyes  crops  of  various  kinds  upon  the  soil,  which  if  I  should 
report  them  at  the  East,  I  should  not  be  believed,  though  I  have  a  de- 
cent reputation  for  truth  there.  For  this  fruitfulness,  nature  should 
receive  all  the  thanks,  —  the  farmer  none.  Though  blessed  with  the 
most  productive  soil,  it  is  improved  but  poorly.  At  most,  not  one  culti- 
vator in  ten  can  lay  any  claim  to  the  name  of  farmer ;  though  it  is  true, 
that  circumstances  have  been  very  much  against  the  development  of  the 
agricultural  interest  of  this  State,  until  the  opening  of  the  railroads. 
Now,  farming  has  received  such  an  impetus  that  it  will  soon  come  up  to 
the  standard  it  is  destined  to  reach ;  but  so  fertile  is  the  soil,  the  extent 
of  its  capacity  to  produce  is  unlimited.  Corn  and  wheat  are  the  crops 
farmers  mostly  rely  upon ;  but  barley,  rye,  beans,  potatoes,  onions,  flax, 
and  fruits  of  all  kinds  adapted  to  the  State,  in  addition,  will  pay  equally 
as  well,  and  for  a  number  of  years,  even  better.  In  fact,  the  farmer 
cannot  turn  his  attention  to  stock  raising  or  the  cultivation  of  any  crop, 
if  he  is  a  practical  man,  and  has  any  energy,  without  realizing  a  fortune, 
and,  too,  at  prices  far  below  the  present.  As  an  act  of  humanity,  and 
for  the  saving  of  thousands  of  tons  of  beef  and  pork,  he  should  provide 
temporary  sheds,  if  nothing  more,  for  the  protection  of  his  flocks  and 
herds.  The  cold  winds  on  the  prairies  are  as  hard  for  cattle  to  bear, 
and  they  need  as  much  shelter  in  the  winter,  as  in  Massachusetts ;  and 
persons  there,  not  providing  shelter  for  their  cattle,  would  be  indicted  for 


51 

cruelty  to  dumb  beasts.  If  beasts  are  exposed,  the  natural  heat  of  the 
animal  must  be  kept  up  with  extra  feed,  or  at  the  expense  of  the  ani- 
mal ;  and  the  consequent  result  is,  that  in  the  spring,  most  of  the  cattle 
here  are  poor,  and  then  it  takes  half  the  following  summer  to  get  them 
up  again. 

After  spending  a  few  months  in  travelling  over  this  State,  and  seeing 
for  myself,  I  have  made  an  estimate  of  the  production,  or,  rather,  the 
amount  of  produce  a  good  farmer  can  sell  from  a  section  of  land,  after 
provisioning  his  family  and  assistants,  and  feeding  the  necessary  teams  to 
be  employed  upon  a  grain  farm,  taking  the  prairie  in  the  wild  state,  and 
for  the  first  years  commencing  moderately,  by  ploughing  one  third  the 
first,  two  thirds  the  second,  and  the  whole  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
years ;  and  I  think  that  fifty  thousand  dollars  can  be  realized,  as  the 
total  receipts  for  the  five  years'  term.  This  estimate  is  for  a  grain 
farm,  which  should  be  located  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  depot.  During 
these  five  years,  fruit  trees  and  other  improvements  should  be  going  on, 
to  keep  up  with  the  age.  The  double  plough  should  be  used  in  break- 
ing the  sod,  so  that  as  good  a  crop  can  be  had  the  first  as  succeeding 
years.  From  what  I  know  of  farming  in  New  England,  I  should  much 
rather  prefer  land  in  this  State,  if  I  could  get  it  upon  a  long  credit,  so  as 
to  put  my  capital  into  improvements,  than  to  accept  of  one  half  of  the 
farms  there  with  a  free  title  to  commence  with.  Practise  the  same 
energy  and  industry  as  would  be  necessary  there,  and  a  young  man  can 
earn  his  farm  here,  and  be  wealthier  in  ten  years,  than  he  could  to  have 
a  farm  presented  him  in  New  England  to  start  with.  One  word  about 
wood  land,  and  my  long  yarn  shall  break.  Eastern  men,  on  first  coming 
into  tliis  State,  sigh  for  more  wood  land  ;  but  they  soon  learn  that  there 
is  coal  enough  below  its  surface  to  warm  up  the  hearts  and  bodies  of  all 
of  Uncle  Sam's  family,  besides  generating  steam  enough  to  drive  all  the 
engines  in  creation  to  all  eternity. 

Then,  again,  in  twenty  years  from  this  time,  there  will  be  twenty 
times  as  much  forest  as  at  present ;  for  as  soon  as  the  prairie  fires  are 
stopped,  timber  starts  up ;  and  trees  every  intelligent  farmer  is  now 
planting,  just  where  he  wants  them,  to  beautify  and  adorn  his  lands. 
Fencing  material  will  be  mostly  supplied  by  hedging,  which  will  also 
tend  to  make  this  State  what  nature  has  designed  it  to  be  —  the  Eden 
of  America. 

L.  G.  CHASE. 

Pera  Station,  Dec.  29th,  1855. 

On  Chicago  Branch  of  Illinois  C.  R.  R. 


LETTER  FROM  DANIEL  ARTER,  ESQ. 

Villa  Ridge,  Illinois,  Jan.  25,  1856. 
Hon.  John  Wilson, 

Land  Commissioner. 

Dear  Sir  :  Understanding  that  you  are  desirous  of  obtaining  informa- 
tion concerning  the  agricultural  capabilities,  general  features,  &c,  of  the 
southern,  as  well  as  other  portions  of  Illinois,  I  cheerfully  offer  the  fol- 
lowing facts. 

For  upwards  of  twenty  years  I  have  been  a  permanent  resident  of 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  located  opposite  Section  12  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  (12  miles  from  Cairo,)  and  three  quarters  of  a  mile 
from  said  road,  in  a  westerly  direction.  During  that  period,  my  atten- 
tion has  been  mainly  devoted  to  agriculture,  and  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine —  the  pursuit  of  which  calling  will  enable  me  to  bear  valuable 
testimony,  perhaps,  in  behalf  of,  at  least,  the  locality  wherein  I  operated. 

The  land  I  have  cultivated  has  proved  itself  well  adapted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  quite  every  kind  of  grain,  fruits,  vegetables,  &c,  which  an  agree- 
able medium  of  climate  allows. 

The  average  yield  of  my  farm,  which  is  mainly  lull  land,  not  abruptly 
broken,  however,  and  which  (I  can  safely  add)  is  the  general  character 
of  the  county  (Pulaski)  wherein  I  reside,  has  been  about  as  follows  :  — 
Corn,  40  to  45  bushels  per  acre. 
Wheat,  20  «  " 

Potatoes,  250        "  " 

whilst  oats,  barley,  rye,  buckwheat,  &c,  grow  in  just  proportion. 

Of  fruits  I  have  ever  had  an  abundant  yield ;  peaches,  plums, 
quinces,  cherries,  and  pears  being  cultivated  with  remarkable  success,  so 
far  as  experiments  have  been  made,  whilst  the  culture  of  apples  has 
never  failed  to  reward  abundantly  all  labor  and  expense  bestowed. 

Vegetables,  of  almost  every  character,  quite  every  description  of  grape 
and  berry,  grow  astonishingly,  although  little  attention  is  now  being  paid 
to  their  cultivation.  Much  of  the  land  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  grape ;  and  nowhere  do  I  know  of  a  locality  more  fitly 
situated  for  an  extensive  gardening  interest  than  that  in  question.  Its 
situation  is  but  a  few  miles  from  Cairo,  —  a  market  rarely,  if  ever,  over- 
stocked with  vegetables,  owing  to  the  great  river  demand,  —  and  suffi- 
ciently distant  south  from  Chicago  to  enable  the  producer  to  ripen  cer- 
tain garden  products  a  few  weeks  after  the  seeds  of  similar  products 
begin  to  germinate  so  far  north. 

The  clhnate  is  happily  exempt  from  all  remarkable  extremes.  The 
country  is  abundantly  supplied  with  never-failing  springs  of  pure,  cold 


53 

water,  is  well  timbered,  generally  provided  with  every  necessary  the 
wants  of  the  settler  demand,  and  bears  a  reputation  for  health  among 
those  familiar  with  the  locality,  which  alone  should  render  it  a  desirable 
place  of  residence,  were  every  other  feature  less  encouraging  than  here 
truthfully  represented.  I  am,  sir,  your  ob't  serv't, 

DANIEL  ARTER. 


LETTER  FROM  JOSEPH  C.  ORTH,  ESQ. 

McCleary's  Bluff,  Wabash  Co.,  Illinois,  ? 
December  16,  1855.  \ 

Hon.  JonN  Wilson, 
Land  Commissioner. 
Dear  Sir  :  I  have  been  a  resident  of  this  county  for  the  past  twelve 
years,  having  emigrated  from  Lebanon  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  have 
devoted  a  large  portion  of  the  time  since  to  agricultural  pursuits.  From 
close  observations  during  this  period,  I  have  become  pretty  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  Southern  Illinois,  and  its  relative  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages, as  compared  with  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  The  soil 
upon  the  upland  is  not  so  rich  in  appearance  as  that  in  the  northern 
prairies,  being  a  grayish  calcareous  clay,  with  an  admixture  of  vegetable 
mould ;  but  produces,  with  proper  cultivation,  very  heavy  crops  of  corn, 
often  equal  to  those  raised  on  the  black  alluvial  soil  skirting  the  streams. 
It  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  smaller  grains,  such  as  wheat,  oats,  barley, 
rye,  and  also  the  various  meadow  grasses.  The  culture  of  wheat  has 
been  of  comparatively  recent  introduction  into  this  section  of  the  State ; 
and  such  has  been  the  remarkable  success  of  the  experiment,  that  it  is 
destined  to  become  one  of  the  principal  staples  of  Southern  Illinois. 
The  average  crops  of  Pennsylvania  fanners,  who  have  here  turned  their 
attention  to  its  growth,  have  been  about  23  bushels  per  acre,  of  winter 
wheat.  The  grain  is  plump  and  heavy,  often  weighing  as  high  as  66 
pounds  to  the  bushel.  In  the  fall  of  1853,  the  premium  priced  wheat 
received  at  the  St.  Louis  market  was  shipped  from  this  section  of  the 
State.  The  variety  principally  grown  is  the  white  or  blue  stem ;  though 
the  red  varieties  are  equally  sure  and  productive.  An  experienced 
Pennsylvania  farmer,  Mr.  George  Glick,  who  has  resided  here  some 
years,  last  season  travelled  through  Illinois,  from  here  to  Galena,  and  was 
led,  from  motives  of  curiosity,  to  examine  the  specimens  of  wheat  in  the 
stacks,  granaries,  and  mills  along  his  route.  He  came  back  fully  satisfied 
that  the  best  region  in  Illinois  for  raising  winter  wheat  is  south  of  the 
National  Road.     The  berry  is  larger  and  heavier,  and  the  plant  not  so 


54 

likely  to  freeze  out  as  on  the  extreme  northern  prairies,  where  the  win- 
ter winds  blow  off  the  light,  porous  soil  from  about  the  roots.  The  high 
character  of  Southern  Illinois  wheat  is  still  more  clearly  demonstrated 
by  the  fact  that  the  specimens  of  wheat  from  Union,  one  of  the  south- 
ernmost counties,  bore  off  the  premium  at  the  last  State  Fair  at  Chicago. 

Among  the  grasses,  timothy  and  blue  grass  thrive  well,  and  clover  is 
particularly  a  sure  crop,  yielding  two  tons  of  hay  and  two  bushels  of 
seed  per  acre.  I  know  from  experience  that  our  gray  upland  soil  may 
be  annually  enriched  by  a  proper  rotation  of  crops,  and  by  occasionally 
seeding  down  in  clover.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  any  thing  of  the 
general  productive  capacity  of  this  region,  so  far  as  Indian  corn  is  con- 
cerned. Even  with  the  careless  cultivation  usually  bestowed  upon  it, 
the  yield  is  equal  to  that  of  any  portion  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  A 
peculiar  feature  of  Southern  Illinois  is,  that  the  timber  land  and  prai- 
rie alternate  in  tracts  of  convenient  size,  and  the  surface  is  more  undu- 
lating, as  a  general  thing,  than  in  the  north  part  of  the  State,  thus 
affording  facilities  for  convenient  drainage. 

For  stock  raising,  this  region  offers  great  advantages,  as  the  winters 
are  comparatively  mild  and  short,  and  domestic  animals  consequently 
require  less  food,  and  can  be  raised  with  less  expense  than  in  a  higher 
latitude. 

As  to  health,  I  candidly  believe  Southern  Illinois  will  compare  favor- 
ably with  any  portion  of  the  west.  That  scourge  of  the  North,  con- 
sumption, is  almost  unknown  here.  It  is  true  that  on  the  rich  lowlands 
bordering  the  streams,  bilious  disorders  prevail  to  some  extent  in  the  fall 
season,  but  on  the  uplands,  good  health  may  be  enjoyed,  with  ordinary 
prudence.  Diseases,  the  result  of  miasma,  prevail  in  every  new  coun- 
try south  of  the  44th  parallel  of  latitude,  when  the  virgin  soil  is  first 
turned  over  and  exposed  to  the  atmosphere.  It  was  so  in  the  Genesee 
valley,  in  New  York,  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Miami,  in  Ohio,  and  has 
been  so  in  Illinois ;  but  the  country  becomes  more  healthful  as  it  grows 
older.  A  great  deal  of  ague  and  chills  is  attributable  to  errors  in  diet, 
to  imprudent  exposure,  to  uncomfortable  dwelling  houses,  and  to  using 
well  water  where  it  leaches  through  the  soil,  instead  of  flowing  through 
veins  in  the  rock.  By  occupying  comfortable  tenements,  avoiding  need- 
less exposure,  eating  suitable  food,  and  using  only  sweet,  pure  water  for 
drinking  and  culinary  purposes,  as  good  health  may  be  enjoyed  hi  South- 
ern Illinois  as  any  where  in  the  Union. 

An  unjust  prejudice  has  hitherto  prevailed  against  this  section  of  the 
State.  None  of  the  great  avenues  of  travel  have,  until  recently,  passed 
through  it.  It  looks  uninviting  and  sterile  to  those  who  only  view  it 
from  the  steamers  as   they  sweep  around  its  borders  on  the  Mississippi 


55 

and  Ohio  Rivers.  Immense  tracts  of  its  fertile  wood  land  and  prairie9 
were,  until  recently,  in  the  hands  of  squatters,  who  had  held  it  for  years 
as  public  land,  thus  avoiding  paying  Government  for  the  land,  and 
taxes  to  the  State.  They  purposely  discouraged  all  those  who  wished 
to  settle  among  them,  and  gave  currency  to  all  manner  of  evil  reports 
concerning  the  country,  to  prevent  strangers  from  entering  them  out  ajt 
the  United  States'  land  offices.  Tins  class  are,  however,  fast  leaving,  and 
giving  place  to  better  citizens. 

These  causes,  and  others  Avhich  might  be  enumerated,  have  conspired 
to  keep  Southern  Illinois  in  the  background  ;  but  through  the  influence 
of  the  railroads  that  are  now  penetrating  it,  its  intrinsic  advantages  must 
soon  become  known  ;  and  the  inducements  it  offers  in  soil,  climate,  and 
convenience,  either  to  the  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis,  or  Chicago  markets, 
will  gradually  become  appreciated  by  the  sagacious  and  enterprising 
emigrant  farmer. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

JOHN  C.  ORTH. 


LETTER  FROM   J.   AMBROSE   WIGHT,  ESQ. 

EDITOR    OF    THE    PKAIRIE    FARMER. 

Hon.  John  Wilson. 

Dear  Sir :  At  your  request  I  would  state  that,  from  an  acquaintance 
with  Illinois  lands  and  Illinois  farmers  of  eighteen  years,  thirteen  of 
which  I  have  been  engaged  as  editor  of  the  Prairie  Farmer,  I  am  pre- 
pared to  give  the  following  as  the  rates  of  produce  which  may  be  had 
per  acre,  with  ordinary  culture  :  — 

Winter  wheat, 15     to     25  bushels. 

Spring  wheat, 10     to     20      " 

Indian  corn, 40     to     70      " 

Oats 40     to     80      1: 

Potatoes, 100     to  200      " 

Grass,  (timothy  and  clover.) U  to       3  tons. 

"  Ordinary  culture"  on  prairie  lands,  is  not  what  is  meant  by  the  term 
in  the  Eastern  or  Middle  States.  It  means,  here,  no  manure  ;  and  com- 
monly but  once,  or,  at  most,  twice  ploughing,  on  perfectly  smooth  land, 
with  long  furrows,  and  no  stones  or  obstructions ;  when  two  acres  per 
day  is  no  hard  job  for  one  team.  It  is  often  but  very  poor  culture,  with 
shallow  ploughing,  and  without  attention  to  weeds. 

I  have  known  crops,  not  unfrequently,  far  greater  than  these,  with  but 


56 

little  variation  in  their  treatment ;  say  forty  to  fifty  bushels  of  winter 
wheat,  sixty  to  eighty  of  oats,  three  hundred  of  potatoes,  and  one  hun- 
dred of  Indian  corn.  "  Good  culture"  which  means  rotation,  deep 
ploughing,  farms  well  stocked,  and  some  manure,  applied  at  intervals  of 
from  three  to  five  years,  would,  in  good  seasons,  very  often  approach 
these  latter  figures. 

Yours,  truly, 

J.  AMBROSE  WIGHT. 
January  9,  1855. 


Extract  from  the  Chicago  Daily  Democratic  Press. 

ILLINOIS  FARMS  AND  FARMERS. 

"We  find  a  letter  in  the  Hunterton  Gazette,  New  Jersey,  from  a 
prominent  citizen  of  that  section  who  has  been  out  West  prospecting, 
with  a  view  of  locating  among  us.  Speaking  of  farms  and  farmers  in 
Illinois,  he  says,  — 

Let  me  cite  a  few  facts  which  I  know  to  be  true,  however  large  they 
may  seem  to  be.  Mr.  Peter  C.  Rea,  who  resided  twelve  years  in  Rari- 
tan,  near  Clover  Hill,  and  emigrated  to  Illinois,  Fulton  County,  in  the 
early  part  of  this  year,  told  me  he  had  raised  and  sold  more  wheat  since 
he  had  been  there,  than  he  had  done  in  twelve  years  he  had  resided  in 
Raritan.  He  simply  raked  together  and  burned  the  cornstalks  in  the 
spring,  and  without  ploughing  the  ground,  sowed  it  with  spring  wheat  and 
harrowed  it  in,  and  in  a  few  months  reaped  a  fine  crop  of  spring  wheat. 
He  has,  besides,  on  his  farm  a  good  prospect  for  a  crop  of  winter  wheat. 
I  ate  at  his  house  some  bread  made  of  the  flour  from  his  spring  wheat, 
and  it  was  as  white  and  as  good  as  any  I  ever  ate  in  New  Jersey.  He 
also  told  me  he  should  probably  make  as  much  money  this  year  in  Illi- 
nois as  he  did  in  twelve  years  in  New  Jersey. 

I  saw  a  farmer  in  Peoria  County,  who  lived  on  a  rented  farm  of  eighty 
acres,  for  which  he  paid  $200  rent  for  the  land,  and  $26  for  the  house  ; 
he  did  all  his  work  himself,  except  some  help  in  planting  corn  ;  had  one 
team  of  horses,  and  after  paying  his  rent,  and  supporting  his  family, 
would  clear  one  thousand  dollars  this  year. 

My  friend,  Mr.  D.  H.  L.  Sutphin,  of  Pike  County,  formerly  of  this 
county,  had  a  field  in  with  wheat,  and  harvested  therefrom  upwards  of 
3000  bushels.  He  hired  every  thing  done,  and  if  I  remember  correctly, 
had  cleared,  over  and  above  all  expenses,  about  $2000  by  this  operation. 
He  introduced  me  to  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Simpkins,  in  that 


57 

county,  who  came  there  a  few  years  ago  with  nothing  save  his  health 
and  his  hands.  He  was  now  farming,  and  lie  told  us  that  .he  would  sell 
this  year  produce  from  his  farm  amounting  to  between  $17,000  and 
$18,000.  I  saw  his  hog-pen,  containing  181  fat  hogs,  which  would  av- 
erage 350  pounds  each. 

I  am  fearful  that  if  I  give  you  any  larger  facts  than  these,  they  may 
be  doubted ;  but  one  more  before  I  close.  I  was  in  Morgan  County, 
and  near  Jacksonville  was  the  farm  of  Mr.  Funk,  and  I  was  told  from  a 
reliable  source,  that  he  sold  that  year  $60,000  worth  of  cattle  from  off 
his  farm.  I  know  instances  where  men  have  done  even  better  than  this 
the  past  year  ;  but  it  is  needless  to  relate  more  particulars.  If  it  would 
be  proper,  I  could  give  you  the  names  of  men  from  this  county,  who 
were  poor  men  when  here,  and  probably  would  always  have  been  poor 
men  if  they  had  remained  here,  who  are  now  owning  farms  in  Illinois, 
in  some  instances  upwards  of  300  acres,  and  getting  rich  fast.  My 
opinion  is,  that  there  never  was  a  more  favorable  time  for  emigrating  to 
Illinois  than  the  present.  True,  lands  are  greatly  enhanced  in  value ; 
but  prices  of  grain  are  yearly  approximating  New  York  prices,  and  the 
good  prairie  land  is  better  worth  $100  per  acre  than  our  best  New  Jer- 
sey is  worth  $50. 


LETTER  FROM  JOHN  S.  PEIRONNEL,  ESQ. 

Peru,  Illinois,  January  1,  1856. 
Hon.  John  Wilson,  Chicago. 

Dear  Sir :  According  to  your  request,  I  send  you  a  statement  of  the 
corn  I  raised  on  a,  ten-acre  lot  formerly  sold  the  Rev.  "William  Uhl,  (less 
half  acre  for  road,)  which  I  bought  last  April  for  thirty  dollars  per  acre, 
($300,)  which  I  thought  at  the  time  a  high  price.  Since  then  I  have 
bought  90  acres  moi-e,  at  much  higher  rates,  and  am  sorry  I  cannot  buy 
more.  I  have  formerly  lived  in  Susquehanna  County,  Pennsylvania,  for 
thirty-three  years,  and  had  a  farm  there,  which  I  sold  when  coming 
West,  two  years  since,  for  $41  25  per  acre.  Now.  sir,  I  candidly  say 
I  get  more  corn  off  the  ten  acres  I  give  you  a  description  of,  than  can 
be  raised  off  said  farm  in  Pennsylvania,  60  acres.  The  nature  of  the 
prairie  land  is  such,  that  ten  acres  can  be  cultivated  easier  than  one  in 
Pennsylvania.  I  market  more  grain  this  season  than  the  whole  town- 
ship I  came  from  hi  Pennsylvania,  (Choconut ;)  and  I  candidly  say, if  my 
old  neighbors  and  friends  knew  the  beauty  of  this  vast  Western  country, 
Susquehanna  County  would  again  become  a  wilderness. 
I  am,  dear  sir,  your  obt.  servt., 

8  JNO.  S.  PEIRONNEL. 


58 


STATEMENT 

OF   THE    EXPENDITURES,   RECEIPTS,   AND     PROFITS    OF    THE    FARM    OF 
WM.    P.    "WEST,    OF    BATAVIA,   FOR    1853. 

Editors  Prairie  Farmer  :  In  compliance  with  the  request  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Judd,  one  of  the  committee  on  farming,  I  submit  the  following 
in  relation  to  the  cost  of  raising  the  various  crops,  viz. :  — 


1852. 
June. 
Aug. 
Sept.  1. 

do. 

do. 
1853. 
July  15. 

do. 

do. 


Twenty-three  Acres  Winter  Wheat. 

To  breaking  23  acres,  3  inches  deep,  at  $1  50  per  acre, 
To  S  days'  cross-ploughing,  4  inches  deep,  at  $2, 
To  46  bushels  Soule's  seed  -wheat,  at  75  c.  per  bushel, 
To  2  days'  work  sowing  the  same,  at  $1,  . 
To  6  days'  work,  harrowing,  at  $2  per  day, 

To  cost  harvesting  23  acres,  at  $1  50  per  acre, 
To  threshing  690  bushels,  at  8  c.  per  bushel, 
To  hauling  the  same  to  market,  at  2  c,    . 


Dr. 

$34  50 

16 

00 

34 

50 

2 

00 

12 

00 

34 

50 

55 

20 

13 

80 

$202  50 

1853.  Cr. 

By  30  bushels  per  acre,  690  bushels,  at  95  c, $655  50 

Cost, 202  50 

Net  profits, $453  00 

Cost  per  acre, $8  80 

Net  profits  per  acre, 19  70 

Seventeen  and  a  half  Acres  Winter  Wheat  on  Com  Ground. 
1852.  Dr. 

Aug.  20.   To  sowing  li  days,  at  $1  per  day, $1  50 

do.        To  35  bushels  Soule's  seed  wheat,  at  75  c,  26  25 

do.        To  4  days'  work,  man,  horse,  and  shovel  plough,  at  $1  50,  6  00 

do.        To  2  days'  work,  man,  horse,  and  small  harrow,  at  $1  50,  3  00 

do.         To  6  days'  work,  hoeing  in  wheat  around  hills, ...  6  00 

1853. 

July  10.    Cost  harvesting  17£  acres,  at  $1  50  per  acre,    ...  26  25 

do.         To  threshing  394  bushels,  at  8  c.  per  bushel,     .         .         .  31  52 

do.        To  carting  214  bushels  to  market,  at  2  c.  per  bushel,  .  4  28 

Total  cost, $104  80 


1853. 


Cr. 


By  224  bushels  per  acre, 


394  bushels. 


59 

214  bushels,  sold  at  95  c.  per  bushel, $203  30 

180  bushels,  sold  at  farm,  at  $1  per  bushel, 180  00 

383  30 

Cost, 104  80 

Net  profits,  17*  acres, $278  50 

Cost  per  acre, $5  98 

Net  profits  per  acre, 15  91 

Twelve  Acres  of  Oats. 

1853.  Dr. 

April  15.   To  5  days' ploughing,  at  $2, $10  00 

do.         To  4  days'  harrowing,  at  $2, 8  00 

do.         To  36  bushels  oats  for  seed,  and  1  day's  -work  at  $1, .         .  10  00 

do.         To  threshing,  $42,  harvesting,  $18, 60  00 

Total, $88  00 


1853.  Cr. 

By  874  bushels  per  acre,  making  1050  bushels,  at  25  c,    .                 .  $262  50 

Cost, 88  00 

Net  profits, $174  50 

Cost  per  acre, $7  33 

Net  profits  per  acre, 14  54 

Nine  and  a  half  Acres  of  Spring  JVheat. 

1852.  Dr. 
Sept.         To  5  days'  ploughing,  8  inches  deep,  at  $2,                .         .  $10  00 

do.          To  19  bushels  Rio  seed  wheat,  at  75  c,     .        .        .        .  14  25 
1853. 

March  25.  1  day's  sowing  the  same, $1  00 

3  days'  work,  harrowing,  at  $2, 6  00 

Cost  harvesting  9£  acres,  at  $  1  50  per  acre,      .         .         .  14  25 

Cost  threshing  228  bushels,  at  8  c,  .         .         .         .         .  18  24 

To  carting  the  same  to  market,  at  2  c, 4  56 

Total  cost, $6S  30 

1853.  Cr. 

By  94  acres,  24  bushels  per  acre,  228  bushels,  at  $1,      .  .        .        .  $228  00 

Cost, 68  30 

Net  profits, $159  70 

Cost  per  acre,  .         .         .         .         .         .         .        $7  20 

Net  profits  per  acre,     ■ 16  81 


1852. 


Sept. 


1853. 
July  1. 


60 
Two  and  a  quarter  Acres  of  Winter  Rye. 


To  ploughing  1  day,  $2,  . 
To  4  bushels  seed,  50  c,  . 
To  sowing  and  harrowing,  one  day, 


To  harvesting  the  same,    . 

To  threshing  50  bushels  rye,  at  8  c, 

To  carting  the  same  to  market,  at  2  c, 


Total  cost, 


1853. 
By  2J  acres,  22  bushels  and  7  qts.  per  acre,  50  bushels,  at  50  c.: 
Cost, 


Net  profits, 


1853. 
April. 


Cost  per  acre, $6  56 

Net  profits  per  acre, 4  55 

Five  and  a  half  Acres  of  Barley. 

To  2k  days'  ploughing,  at  $2, 

To  12  bushels  seed,  at  40  c, 

To  1  day's  work,  sowing  same, 

To  \k  days'  work,  harrowing,  §2, 

To  harvesting  5k  acres,  at  $1  50, 

To  carting  182  bushels  to  market,  at  2  c, 

Threshing  the  same,  at  8  c, 


Total  cost, 


1853. 
By  5k  acres,  33  bushels  3  qts.  per  acre,  182  bushels,  at  40  c. 
Cost, 


Net  profits, 


Cost  per  acre, $7  32 

Net  profits  per  acre, 5  92 


Dr. 

$2  00 

2  00 

2  00 

3  75 

4  00 

1  00 

$14  75 

Cr. 

$25 

00 

14 

75 

§10  25 


Dr. 

$5  00 

4  80 

1  00 

3  00 

8  25 

3  64 

14  56 

$40  25 

Cr. 

$72  80 

40  25 

$32  55 


Twenty-eight  and  a  Jialf  Acres  Corn. 
One  half  of  this  was  fall  ploughed,  the  balance  Timothy  sod,  broke  May  1st, 
1853,  7  inches  deep.     Cost  of  tending,  about  the  same  as  fall  ploughing. 

Dr. 

To  28k  acres  ploughing,  at  $1  per  acre, $28  50 

To  5  days'  harrowing,  at  $2, 10  00 

To  4  bushels  seed  corn,  75  c, 3  00 


61 


To  9£  days'  planting,  7s., 

To  2G  days' cultivating  corn,  $1  18, 

To  12  days'  hoeing,  88  c, 

To  57  days'  husking,  $1,. 

Shelling  and  marketing  1710  bushels,  at  4  c. 


Total  cost, 


8  31 

30  50 
10  50 

57  00 
68  40 

$216  27 


By  284  acres,  60  bushels  per  acre,  1710  bushels,  at  50  c, 
Cost, 


Net  profits,     . 

Cost  per  acre,  . 
Net  profits  per  acre, 


One  Acre  Potatoes. 


1853. 
To  cost  of  raising, 


15  c, 


By  150  bushels  potatoes, 

Net  profits, 

One  hundred  and  three  Sheep. 
To  cutting  and  stacking  25  tons  hay,  at  $1, 
To  feeding  30  bushels  com,  50  c,     . 

To  feeding  and  salt, 

To  washing  and  shearing  sheep,  and  marketing  wool, 


Total  cost, 


By  103  fleeces,  average  3  lbs.  10  oz.,  373  lbs.,  at  46  c. 
By  53  lambs,  $1  25, 


Cost, 


Net  profits, 


$7  59 
22  41 


Fifteen  Head  of  Cattle  and  one  Colt. 


To  cost  keeping  to  hay,    . 
To  25  bushels  corn  feed,  50  c, 
To  labor  and  salt, 


Cr. 
$855  00 
216  27 

S638  73 


Dr. 

$10  00 

Cr. 
$37  50 

$27  50 

Dr. 

$25  00 
15  00 
10  00 
10  00 

$60  00 

Cr. 
$171  58 
66  25 

$237  83 
60  00 


$177  83 


Dr. 

$24  00 

12 

50 

10 

50 

Total  cost, 


$47  00 


62 

Ck. 

By  growth  on  cattle  and  colt, $150  00 

Cost, 47  00 

Net  profits, $103  00 


Dr.  To  fatting  one  sow  and  four  pigs,  80  bushels  corn,  at  50  c,         .  40  00 

Cr.  By  1500  lbs.  of  pork,  at  5  c.  per  lb.,          ".....  75  00 

Net  profits, $35  00 

25  bushels  apples,  $1, $25  00 

8  bushels  peaches,  $1 8  00 

5  swarms  bees,  $5, 25  00 

50  lbs.  honey,  124  c, 6  25 

24  turkeys,  50  c, 12  00 

60  chickens,  124  c, 7  50 

$83  75 

Cost  of  keeping  the  above, 10  00 

Net  profits, $73  75 

Tiveniy-one  Acres  Timothy  Seed. 

Dr.  To  harvesting,  tlireshing,  and  cleaning, $45  00 

Cr.  By  84  bushels,  at  $2  per  bushel, 168  00 

Net  profits, $123  00 

Recapitulation. 

Cost  of  growing.  Net  profit*. 

23  acres  of  wheat, $202  50  $453  00 

154  acres  wheat, 104  80  278  50 

94  acres  spring  wheat, 68  30  159  70 

2|  acres  rye, 14  75  10  25 

54  acres  barley, 40  25  32  55 

12  acres  oats, 88  00  174  50 

284  acres  corn, 216  27  638  73 

1  acre  potatoes, 10  00  27  50 

103  sheep, 60  00  177  83 

Cattle  and  colt, 47  00  103  00 

Pork, 40  00  35  00 

Apples,  Peaches,  Bees,  Turkeys,  &c,         ...             10  00  73  75 

21  acres  Timothy  seed, 45  00  123  00 

Total, $946  87  $2,287  31 

Number  of  acres,  240.     Paying  an  interest  on  the  whole  farm  of  240  acres,  at 
a  valuation  of  $158  88  per  acre,  at  6  per  ct. 

WM.  P.  WEST,  Batavia,  Illinois. 


63 


EXTRACTS  FROM  "A  GLANCE  AT  ILLINOIS." 

Published  by  A.  Campbell,  Esq.,  La  Salle,  111. 


CLIMATE. 

The  climate  of  this  portion  of  the  Western  Country  is  rather  milder 
than  in  the  same  latitudes  upon  the  Atlantic  slopes ;  the  winters  being 
somewhat  less  severe,  and  the  autumns  rather  longer.  The  rivers,  as 
far  north  as  the  41st  parallel  of  latitude,  usually  open  as  early  as  the 
15th  of  February  to  the  1st  of  March,  and  do  not  close  before  the  loth 
to  the  20th  of  December.  In  fact,  we  sometimes  have  boats  running 
every  month  in  the  year. 

It  is  well  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  all  the  different  grains  and 
grasses,  apples,  peaches,  and  every  other  kind  of  fruit  raised  in  this 
latitude ;  as  fruit  and  other  trees  grow  with  great  rapidity  and  luxuri- 
ance upon  our  rich  prairie  soil.  The  grape  is  successfully  cultivated  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  native  wine  is  made  there  to  some 
extent. 

HEALTH. 

In  point  of  health,  the  State  of  Illinois  will  compare  favorably  with 
any  other  of  equal  fertility  in  the  Union.  For,  although  some  portions, 
in  the  vicinity  of  low  grounds  and  river  bottoms,  are  occasionally  subjected 
to  epidemics  of  fever  and  ague  in  the  autumn,  there  exists  upon  the  open 
prairie  no  local  cause  of  disease.  In  the  first  settlement  of  Illinois,  the 
opinion  prevailed  that  the  prairies  were  uninhabitable ;  and,  consequent- 
ly, the  immigrants  settled  in  the  groves,  and  along  the  banks  of  streams, 
where  the  greatest  sources  of  unhealthiness  —  if  there  were  any  — 
existed.  Moreover,  they  usually  arrived  in  the  country  worn  out  and 
dispirited,  from  long  journeys  in  loaded  carts  and  wagons,  encamping  at 
night  on  the  way  in  heavy  dews  and  storms,  suffering  for  weeks  every 
form  of  unaccustomed  privation  and  exposure  ;  or,  after  tedious  voyages, 
crowded  into  what  is  called  the  "  steerage "  of  wretched  steamboats, 
where  all  manner  of  discomfort  was  suffered,  from  exposure  to  wet  and 
cold,  bad  water  and  bad  provisions  —  the  latter  often  in  insufficient 
quantity.  And,  after  arriving  at  their  destinations,  they  were  scarcely 
better  off;  being  crowded  in  large  numbers  into  such  small  log  cabins  or 
huts  as  the  exigencies  of  their  condition  would  allow  of  being  tempora- 
rily provided ;  drinking  bad  water  from  the  "  sloughs,"  and  even  suf- 
fering for  long  periods  from  improper  and  insufficient  food,  whereby 
pernicious  fevers  and  many  other  fearful  diseases  were  endangered  — 
diseases  which  at  that  time  were  erroneously  attributed,  not  to  their  true 
source,  but  to  causes  supposed  to  exist  in  the  climate. 


64 

But  since  the  construction  of  railroads  into  and  through  every  part  of 
the  State ;  since  the  settlements  have  been  more  generally  made  upon 
the  open,  rolling  prairies ;  since  the  people  have  been  able  to  provide 
themselves  readily  with  good  habitations,  and  other  comforts  and  con- 
veniences, and  are  exempted  from  the  inevitable  hardships  of  pioneer 
life,  Illinois  will  compare  favorably  with  any  other  portion  of  our  com- 
mon country,  of  like  fertility.  An  abundance  of  the  best  water  can  be 
reached  at  from  15  to  30  feet  below  the  surface  on  our  prairies;  and  no 
cause  of  disease  is  traceable  to  this  source,  except  where  it  has  been,  as 
in  some  cases,  habitually  used  from  "  sloughs  "  and  stagnant  streams.  I 
am  also  informed  by  the  most  respectable  physicians,  that  Consumption, 
that  fearful  scourge  of  the  human  race,  is  not  a  disease  of  this  climate ; 
where  it  occurs  here,  it  being  almost  universally  in  those  who  have 
brought  it  with  them,  or  in  whom  it  is  in  a  marked  degree  hereditary. 
It  is  also  a  curious  fact,  that  persons  suffering  from  astlmia,  or ';  phthisic," 
have  been  greatly  relieved,  or,  in  some  instances,  permanently  cured,  by 
a  residence  in  this  climate. 

SOIL. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  soil  of  our  prairie  lands,  there  is  very  little 
dissimilarity  in  it,  from  the  valley  of  the  Wabash  to  the  Missouri  River. 
It  is  generally  a  dark,  rich,  sandy  loam,  from  18  to  30  inches  in  depth. 
The  surface,  for  the  most  part,  is  gently  undulating,  though  some  por- 
tions are  more  rolling,  and  less  desirable  for  farming  purposes.  Where 
the  surface  is  very  broken,  the  land,  when  brought  under  cultivation,  is 
subject  to  wash  into  the  low  grounds  and  streams.  High  ground  thus 
becomes,  by  the  removal  of  the  soil,  quite  barren  in  a  few  years.  A 
small  portion  of  the  lands  have  the  opposite  objection  of  being  more 
level  than  is  desirable.  "Where  this  is  the  case,  the  Avater  does  not  drain 
off,  and  the  crop  is  injured.  Those  lands  are  to  be  preferred  which  are 
just  sufficiently  undulating  for  thorough  drainage ;  though  it  is  desira- 
ble to  have  about  one  fourth  of  a  farm  wet  enough  for  good  meadow  or 
grass  land. 

As  to  the  matter  of  bringing  these  lands  under  cultivation,  it  may  be 
well  to  state,  for  the  benefit  of  those  unacquainted,  that  it  is  usual  to 
commence  breaking  the  sward  about  the  first  of  May ;  and  to  continue 
until  about  the  middle  of  July.  It  is  customary  to  plant  corn  upon  all 
that  is  broken  up  before  the  first  of  June.  The  corn  planted  in  this 
manner,  —  sod  corn,  as  it  is  called — requires  no  working,  and  yields 
from  20  to  30  bushels  per  acre.  What  is  broken  after  the  first  of  June, 
is  generally  sown  with  winter  wheat,  or  left  until  the  following  spring. 
when  it  is  in  good  condition  for  any  kind  of  spring  crop.     The  winter 


65 

wheat  is  put  in  with  the  drill,  or  by  harrowing,  without  second  plough- 
ing, and  is  usually  as  productive  as  any  other  crop. 

Eastern  people  have  doubtless  heard  that  heavy  teams  of  from  4  to 
6  yoke  of  cattle  are  required  for  the  first  breaking  up  of  prairie.  But 
this  is  only  necessary  where  the  large  plough  is  used,  which  cuts  a  fur- 
row of  from  24  to  30  inches.  A  span  of  good  horses,  however,  with  a 
plough  which  turns  a  ten  inch  furrow,  will  easily  break  an  acre  and  a 
quarter  a  day. 

After  these  lands  are  once  brought  under  cultivation,  two  good  farm 
hands,  with  two  span  of  good  horses,  can  attend  70  acres  of  corn,  and 
30  acres  of  wheat,  with  the  help  of  a  hand  or  two  during  corn  planting 
and  wheat  harvest ;  a  large  amount  of  the  labor  upon  the  farm,  such  as 
mowing,  reaping,  and  threshing,  being  done  by  machinery.  Corn  is  now 
mostly  planted  with  the  drill,  and  requires  no  other  working  than  what 
is  done  with  the  plough  or  cultivator.  As  our  winters  are  usually  mild, 
there  being  but  little  snow,  and  the  corn  suffering  no  damage  by  remain- 
ing in  the  field,  it  can  be  harvested  at  the  farmer's  convenience,  at  any 
time  during  the  fall  or  winter.  And  the  cost  of  any  extra  hire,  beyond 
the  two  hands  before  mentioned,  need  not  exceed  $100  for  100  acres. 

"We  cannot  expect  to  find,  in  any  country,  numerous  and  great  advan- 
tages, without  some  deficiencies.  Nature  operates  by  compensations; 
and  where  she  has  been  munificent  in  many  gifts,  there  are  always  some 
which  she  seems  to  have  withholden.  Prominent  among  the  latter,  in 
Illinois,  and  that  which  has  constituted  the  greatest  objection  to  the 
State,  in  the  minds  of  many,  is  the  scarcity  of  timber.  But  here,  again, 
art  has  abundantly  triumphed,  and  turned  seeming  disadvantages  to  val- 
uable account.  For,  with  so  many  and  so  easy  means  of  transporta- 
tion, by  navigation  upon  lakes,  rivers,  canals,  and  by  our  numerous  rail- 
roads, timber  and  fuel  can  be  furnished  to  all  parts  of  the  State,  at  about 
as  easy  rates  as  in  any  other  portion  of  the  country. 

There  are  immense  forests  of  the  choicest  pine  and  other  timbers  on 
the  borders  of  our  great  lakes,  enormous  quantities  of  which  are  manu- 
factured into  lumber  of  every  description,  and  shipped  to  Chicago,  from 
whence  it  is  distributed  to  every  part  of  the  State,  by  means  of  the 
canal  and  the  numerous  railroads  diverging  from  that  city.  The  freights 
from  the  different  points  of  supply  on  the  lakes  to  Chicago,  range  from 
$1  50  to  $3  per  thousand  feet.  The  usual  tariff  upon  our  railroads  is 
about  $3  per  thousand  feet  per  100  miles.  There  are  also  large  bodies 
of  pine  and  other  timber  upon  the  tributaries  of  the  Upper  Mississippi 
River,  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  which  is  likewise  manufactured  and 
floated  down  that  stream  to  all  points  on  our  western  border,  from  whence 
it  is  carried  into  all  parts  of  the  interior  by  railroad. 
9 


A  large  portion  of  Southern  Illinois  is  covered  with  a  heavy  growth 
of  valuable  timber,  and,  already,  there  are  numerous  saw  mills  in  opera- 
tion, and  others  being  constructed,  along  the  line  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  by  which  avenue  it  is  carried  north  to  the  interior.  On  the 
east  are  the  extensive  forests  of  Indiana  and  Southern  Michigan,  which 
are  rendered  accessible  by  the  several  railroads  passing  through  them. 

Besides  which,  there  are  also  valuable  bodies  of  timber  along  the 
numerous  watercourses,  and  large  groves  interspersed  over  the  prairies 
throughout  the  interior  of  the  State.  Although  this  timber  is  not  so  well 
suited  to  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  it  is  yet  valuable  for  fencing  and 
fuel. 

COAL. 

As  if  Nature  had  anticipated  the  inconvenience  to  which  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  prairies  would  be  subjected  by  the  scarcity  of  timber  for 
fuel,  she  provided  as  a  compensation  for  that  deficiency,  long  before- 
hand, by  carefully  storing  beneath  their  surface  an  almost  unlimited  sup- 
ply of  excellent  mineral  or  stone  coal.  Nearly  the  entire  State  is  under- 
laid with  it,  south  of  a  line  running  west  from  the  southern  extremity  of 
Lake  Michigan.  It  is  found  at  a  short  distance  below  the  surface,  and 
crops  out  upon  the  banks  of  most  of  the  streams  in  that  part  of  the 
State. 

This  article,  which  must  ultimately  become  a  source  of  vast  wealth  to 
this  region  of  country,  is  already  attracting  the  attention  of  capitalists ; 
and  mining  is  being  carried  on  extensively  along  the  line  of  the  canal, 
rivers,  and  railroads,  in  different  parts  of  the  State. 

Mining  is  largely  done  on  the  line  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and 
Quincy  Railroad,  in  the  Counties  of  Stark  and  Knox,  by  means  of 
shafts  sunk  in  the  prairie,  immediately  on  the  line  of  the  road ;  also  on 
the  line  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Railroad,  in  the  Counties  of 
Grundy,  La  Salle,  Bureau,  and  Rock  Island.  Extensive  works  are  in 
operation  at  the  City  of  Rock  Island,  where  a  large  amount  is  mined 
from  the  outcrop  of  the  veins  in  that  vicinity. 

At  La  Salle,  all  three  of  the  beds  are  worked  by  means  of  "  drifts." 
There  are  some  12  to  15  openings  on  the  banks  of  the  canal,  and  in  the 
valley  of  the  Little  Vermilion  and  contiguous  ravines.  Besides  supply- 
ing the  cities  of  La  Salle  and  Peru,  it  is  shipped  in  large  quantities,  to 
all  points  on  the  Galena  Branch  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  as  far 
north  as  Dunleith,  on  the  Mississippi  River.  The  demand  for  it  here 
has  already  become  so  great  that,  notwithstanding  the  very  high  price  of 
$3  50  per  ton  is  demanded  for  it,  delivered  upon  the  railroad  cars,  even 
double  the  amount  which  is  now  taken  out  would  meet  with  ready  sale  at 


67 

that  price.  Several  shafts  are  now  being  sunk,  with  a  view  to  mining 
on  a  much  larger  scale,  by  means  of  stationary  engines;  and  before  the 
close  of  another  year,  the  quantity  supplied  will  amount  to  thousands  of 
tons,  where  it  is  now  only  hundreds. 

Mining  is  also  done  at  various  points  on  the  Big  Vermilion,  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Illinois  River,  and  the  coal  is  carried  to  the  neighbor- 
ing stations  on  the  Central  Railroad  by  wagon. 

In  view  of  the  extent  of  these  mines,  and  their  advantageous  position 
with  reference  to  shipments,  as  well  as  the  good  quality  of  the  coal,  we 
think  this  locality  well  worthy  the  attention  of  all  who  may  desire  to 
invest  capital,  or  engage  in  any  manner  in  the  business  of  coal  mining. 

Coal  is  also  found  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Illinois  River,  from  La  Salle  to 
near  its  mouth,  at  several  points  on  which  mining  operations  are  largely 
carried  on.  The  most  prominent  of  these  works  are  at  Peoria,  Pekin, 
and  Kingston. 

There  are  also  extensive  and  valuable  mines  on  the  line  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  Those  at  Du 
Quoin  and  De  Soto  are  yielding  an  abundance,  of  good  quality. 

Examinations  by  boring  have  been  made,  and  coal  discovered,  at 
various  other  points  on  the  line  of  this  road  farther  north,  as  well  as 
upon  the  line  of  the  Chicago,  Alton  and  St.  Louis  Railroad. 

The  deposit  at  Danville,  in  Vermilion  County,  is  of  great  extent  and 
good  quality.  The  Great  Western  Railroad,  which  passes  through 
Danville,  crosses  this  field  from  east  to  west.  The  Chicago  and  Dan- 
ville Coal  Mining  Company  have  made  arrangements  for  working  these 
mines  extensively,  with  a  view  to  supplying  the  country  along  the  line 
of  the  Chicago  Branch  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  as  well  as  the 
Chicago  market. 

The  Geological  Survey,  now  going  on  in  the  State,  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Norwood,  State  Geologist,  shows  also  that  the  supply  throughout 
that  portion  of  the  State  above  mentioned  is  almost  without  limit,  prom- 
ising a  future  to  Illinois  of  untold  wealth  and  greatness ;  as  we  not 
only  have  an  abundance  for  domestic  and  manufacturing  purposes  for 
ourselves,  but  also  for  our  friends  of  Wisconsin,  and  other  neighboring 
States,  which  may  be  destitute. 

Thus,  with  the  abundant  means  we  enjoy  for  supplying  our  demands 
for  lumber,  with  the  immense  beds  of  coal  beneath  our  feet  for  fuel, 
•and  with  the  facilities  offered  by  our  lake,  rivers,  canal,  and  railroads,  for 
distributing  these  to  every  part  of  the  State,  from  the  ports  and  stations 
upon  which  the  farmer,  when  marketing  his  produce,  can  return  with  his 
supplies  of  these  needful  commodities,  without  loss  of  time,  and  with  but 
little  inconvenience,  the   broad  prairies,  which  have  hei'etofore  consti- 


68 

tuted  the  greatest  objection  to  this  country  in  the  minds  of  superficial 
observers,  prove  to  be  a  source  of  the  highest  advantage  to  the  State. 
The  lands  being  at  once  ready  for  the  plough,  a  good  farm  can  be  opened 
in  one,  or,  at  most,  two  years ;  whereas,  in  a  heavily  timbered  country,  it 
requires  a  lifetime  of  toil  to  accomplish  a  result  no  greater. 

Before  the  construction  of  railroads  through  the  interior  of  the  State, 
the  only  avenues  to  market  were  by  the  Lake  and  the  Illinois  and  Mis- 
sissippi Rivers.'  This  circumstance  had  the  effect  of  directing  the  first 
settlers  more  particularly  to  the  borders  of  these  streams,  and  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  Lakes ;  so  that  the  narrow  tract  of  country  between 
them  and  the  northern  and  western  part  of  the  State  came  to  be  first 
occupied ;  leaving  that  large  and  fertile  portion  south  and  east  of  the 
Illinois  —  except  along  its  border  —  comparatively  uninhabited  ;  there 
being  no  means  of  reaching  markets  from  there,  except  by  wagons. 

But  this  region  is  now  traversed  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  the 
Chicago  Branch  of  the  same,  and  by*  the  Chicago,  Alton  and  St.  Louis 
Railroad,  from  north  to  south,  as  Avell  as  by  several  others  from  east  to 
west.  And  if  its  advantages  in  respect  to  markets  were,  in  days  past,  of 
the  most  meagre  description,  they  have  now  become  of  the  best ;  as 
there  are  equal  facilities  existing  here  for  reaching  Cbicago  or  St.  Louis 
with  any  other  part  of  the  State ;  besides  which,  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  affords  an  outlet  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  at  Cairo ;  below 
which  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  is  very  rarely,  if  ever,  obstructed 
by  ice  or  low  water.  Thus  giving  command  of  the  Southern  market 
throughout  the  year. 

Notwithstanding  these  advantages,  lands  are  still  comparatively  cheap 
in  this  section  of  the  State,  on  account  of  the  large  tracts  thus  at  once 
made  available,  and  brought  into  market,  by  the  construction  of  these 
roads.  Although  scarcely  two  years  have  elapsed  since  the  opening  of 
these  roads,  this  region  of  country,  so  recently  a  comparative  wilderness, 
is  rapidly  settling ;  villages  are  springing  up  at  all  the  different  stations, 
with  their  schools,  churches,  and  other  social  privileges  and  improve- 
ments. 

The  following  is  the  result  of  the  late  census  in  a  few  of  the  most 
interior  counties,  showing  their  population  in  1850  and  1855,  increase, 
and  per  cent. 


1850. 

1855. 

Increase. 

IYr  cent 

McLean, 

10,103 

19,578 

9,415 

92f 

I)e  Witt, 

5,002 

8,508 

3,506 

70| 

Macon, 

3,988 

8,365 

4,377 

109  J 

Piatt, 

1,006 

3,053 

1,446  • 

90 

Champaign, 

2,649 

6,566 

3,917 

148 

Livingston, 

1,552 

4,606 

3,054 

196£ 

69 

Much  the  largest  portion  of  this  increase  has  accrued  within  the  last 
two  years;  which  is  to  be  attributed  mainly  to  the  opening  of*  the  rail- 
roads through  this  formerly  remote  district. 

ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  LANDS. 

In  addition  to  the  great  opportunities  now  offered  for  purchasing  lands 
of  private  individuals  in  this  district,  the  most  favorable  inducements 
are  afforded  to  settlers  with  small  means,  by  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company.  This  Company  received  from  the  State,  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  their  road,  an  amount  of  land  equal  to  the  alternate  sec- 
tions, for  six  miles  on  each  side  of  the  line  of  the  road  and  its  branches. 
To  make  up  for  any  that  might  have  been  sold  of  the  sections,  in  the 
order  prescribed,  —  before  the  General  Government  made  the  grant  to 
the  State,  —  the  Company  were  allowed  the  privilege  of  extending  their 
claim  to  fifteen  miles  on  either  side,  so  far  as  might  be  necessary  to  make 
up  the  deficiency.*  As  the  lands  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  had 
been,  previously,  almost  entirely  taken  up,  by  far  the  larger  portion  of 
the  selections  were  necessarily  made  on  that  part  of  the  main  trunk 
between  La  Salle  and  Cairo ;  and  the  Chicago  branch  between  Chicago 
and  Centralia. 

And  this  vast  tract  is  now  thrown  open  for  sale  by  the  Company,  to 
settlers  only,  on  the  most  convenient  terms.  The  prices  range  from  five 
to  twenty-five  dollars  per  acre,  according  to  quality  and  distance  from 
stations ;  the  latter  price  being  for  those  having  a  prospective  value,  on 
account  of  proximity  to  important  villages,  or  mineral  deposits. 

The  terms  of  payment  are  as  follows,  viz. :  1st.  Two  years' interest 
in  advance  on  the  amount  of  the  purchase  money,  at  the  rate  of  3  per 
cent,  per  annum.  2d.  At  the  end  of  two  years,  one  fifth  of  the  pur- 
chase money,  with  one  year's  interest  in  advance  on  the  balance,  at  the 
same  rate.  3d.  At  the  end  of  the  third  year,  another  fifth  of  the  origi- 
nal price,  with  one  year's  interest  in  advance,  on  the  residue ;  and  so  on, 
until  the  whole  is  paid. 

Now,  although  these  prices  may  seem  high,  when  compared  with  that 
of  lands  at  the  Government  price  of  $1  25  per  acre,  let  us  see  how  they 
will  compare,  when  purchased  by  the  farmer,  who  wants  them  for  actual 
cultivation,  with  those  at  from  200  to  300  miles  farther  distant  from 
markets,  at  the  Government  rates :  Suppose  we  take  a  farm  of  1 60 
acres,  100  miles  from  Chicago,  on  the  line  of  this  road  or  its  branches; 

*  In  consideration  of  this  grant,  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  is  obligated  to 
pay  to  the  State  7  per  cent,  of  the  gross  earnings  of  the  road,  forever.  It  is  estimated 
that  this  will  become  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  State  of  $-250,000  annually. 


70 

in  order  to  secure  a  choice  tract,  and  to  be  within  such  a  distance  from  a 
station  that  the  farmer,  when  marketing  his  produce  or  receiving  his  sup- 
plies, can  make  conveniently  two  trips  a  day;  put  the  price  at  $12  50 
per  acre  —  which  amount  will  secure  such  a  location —  say      $2000  00 

First  payment  of  2  years'  interest  in  advance,  at  the  rate  of 

3  per  cent,  per  annum, 120  00 

Second  payment,  at  the  end  of  2  years,  with  one  fifth  of  the 

purchase  money, $400  00 

One  year's  interest  on  the  balance,       .         .         .         .         48  00  —  448  00 

Third  payment,  at  the  end  of  3  years ;  one  fifth  of  purchase 

money, $400  00 

And  3  per  cent,  in  advance  on  the  balance  still  remaining,        36  00  —  436  00 

Fourth  payment,  at  the  end  of  4  years ;  one  fifth  of  the  pur- 
chase money, $400  00 

One  year's  interest  on  the  balance,       .         .         .         .         24  00  —  424  00 

Fifth  payment,  at  the  end  of  5  years  ;  one  fifth  of  -purchase 

money, $400  00 

One  year's  interest  on  the  balance,      .         .         .         .  12  00  —  412  00 

Sixth,  and  last  payment,  at  the  end  of  6  years ;  being  one 

fifth  of  the  original  amount  of  purchase  money,      ....       400  00 

Total, $2,240  00 

If  we  take  a  farm  of  160  acres  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Des  Moines,  in 
Iowa,  at  $1  25  per  acre  for  a  second  locality,  the  cost  would  be  but 
$200  00. 

Now,  if  the  lands  in  each  locality  were  appropriated  exclusively  to  the 
raising  of  grain,  the  result  would  be  thus  :  All  that  could  be  done  the 
first  year  would  be  the  breaking  of  100  acres  of  ground,  raising  the 
vegetables  for  the  family,  and  the  crop  of  sod  corn  —  which  would  pro- 
vide amply  for  the  stock  —  and  the  sowing  of  30  acres  of  fall  wheat ; 
together  with  making  necessary  fences,  and  other  arrangements  incident 
to  a  beginning;  then,  the  second  spring,  there  would  be  70  acres  planted 
with  corn,  which  in  the  fall  would  produce  3500  bushels.  And  the  30 
acres  of  wheat  would  produce  600  bushels.  If  you  retain  900  bushels 
corn  for  stock,  and  fattening  animals  for  family  use,  you  would  have  for 
market,  at  the  end  of  the  second  year,  400  bushels  of  wheat,  2  GOO  bush- 
els of  corn ;  total,  3000  bushels  of  grain  for  market ;  the  transportation 
of  which  from  the  locality  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Des  Moines,  in  Iowa, 
367  miles  west  of  Chicago,  would  cost,  at  29  cents  per  bushel,  $870  00  ; 
whilst  the  transportation  on  the  same  amount  from  a  point  100  miles 
from  Chicago,  would  be  but  $240  00 ;  which  shows  a  difference  in 
favor  of  the   latter,  annually,  of    $630  00.     From  which    deduct  the 


71 

amount  of  first  payment,  at  the  end  of  the  second  year,  on  the  farm  100 
miles  distant  from  Chicago,  $448  00,  leaving  $182  00,  which  would  be 
the  balance  in  favor  of  the  hitter  over  the  former,  after  making  the  pay- 
ment at  the  end  of  the  second  year. 

At  the  end  of  the  third  year,  the  amount  of  products  would  be  the 
same,  viz. :  2G00  bushels  of  corn,  and  400  bushels  of  wheat,  —  in  all, 
8000  bushels  ;  the  cost  of  transportation  of  which  from  Fort  Des  Moines 
to  Chicago,  would  be,  as  before,  $870  00.  While  the  cost  of  the  same 
amount  from  the  point  100  miles  from  Chicago,  would  be  but  $240  00, 
showing  a  balance  still  in  favor  of  the  latter  over  the  former  of  $030  00. 
From  which  deduct  the  third  payment,  $436  00,  and  you  have  in  favor 
of  the  Illinois  farm,  at  the  end  of  the  third  year,  after  making  the  third 
payment,  $194  00.  And  so  on,  until  the  end  of  the  sixth  year,  when 
the  farmer  will  have  saved  the  sum  of  $1110  00,  after  paying  for  the 
land  at  the  rate  of  $12  50  per  acre,  by  selecting  his  farm  100  miles 
from  Chicago,  in  preference  to  one  at  Fort  Des  Moines. 

This  is  the  amount  saved,  without  taking  into  account  the  greater 
value  of  the  land  at  the  end  of  that  period,  by  being  in  nearer  proximity 
to  market.  Now,  the  diiFerence,  annually,  in  the  value  of  the  crop  upon 
the  farm  within  100  miles  of  Chicago,  over  that  at  Fort  Des  Moines,  is 
$630  00,  which  is  the  interest,  at  6  per  cent.,  upon  $10,500  00 ;  or 
equal  to  $65  62 J-  per  acx*e,  on  a  farm  of  160  acres. 

To  demonstrate  the  foregoing :  —  The  cost  of  a  farm  of  160  acres, 
near  Fort  Des  Moines,  at  the  Government  price  of  $1  25  per 
acre,  is $200  00 

Cost  of  transporting  its  products  to  Chicago,  on  Lake  Michigan,  as 
given  above,  would  be,  annually,        ....         $870  00 

This,  for  5  years,  would  amount  to 4,350  00 

And  you  have,  as  the  cost  of  the  farm,  and  marketing  its  products  at 

Chicago,  for  5  years, $4,550  00 

Whilst  the  farm  within  100  miles  of  Chicago,  on  the  fine  of  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  or  its  branches,  at  $12  50  per  acre,  with  the  interest 
thereon,  would  amoimt  to 2,240  00 

The  cost  of  carrying  its  products  to  Chicago,  would  be  at  the  same 

rates,  annually,  but $240  00 

Which,  in  5  years,  would  amount  to 1,200  00 

And  you  have,  as  the  total  cost  of  the  farm,  and  expenses  of  market- 
ing at  Chicago,  for  5  years, $3,440  00 

Showing  a  gain  in  5  years,  after  paving  for  the  land,  at  $12  50  per 
acre,  in  favor  of  the  farm  within  100  miles  of  Chicago,  over  the 
one  at  Fort  Pes  Moines,  at  $1  25  per  acre,  of      .         .        .         .1,110  00 

Besides  which,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Central  Eailroad 


72 

lands  are  not  subject  to  taxation  until  the  end  of  the  sixth  year,  when 
the  final  payment  is  to  be  made. 

The  question  might  arise,  whether  a  farmer,  purchasing  a  farm  of  the 
Central  Railroad  Company,  upon  the  terms  they  propose,  would  be  likely 
to  realize  enough  from  his  crops  to  make  his  payments  and  maintain  his 
family.  Of  this  there  would  seem  to  be  no  reasonable  doubt ;  for,  if 
wheat  will  bring  but  $1  20  in  New  York,  it  would  net  him  90  cents  at 
home,  allowing  him  27  cents  per  bushel  for  freights,  and  3  cents  a 
bushel  for  the  incidental  expenses  of  marketing.  And  after  deducting 
for  freight  and  other  charges,  allow  10  per  cent,  to  the  grain  buyer,  and 
he  would  still  have  81  cents,  as  the  return  for  his  wheat.  "We  will  sup- 
pose corn  to  bring  70  cents  in  New  York ;  then  deduct  30  cents  for 
freight  and  other  charges,  and  10  per  cent,  for  the  grain  dealer,  and  he 
would  have  36  cents  for  his  corn  at  the  railroad  station.     Thus  :  — 

400  bushels  wheat,  at  81  cents, $324  00 

2600  bushels  com,  at  36  cents, 936  00 

Total, $1,260  00 

From  which  deduct  the  hire  of  one  hand  during  the  year, 

and  another  for  six  months, $300  00 

To  which  add  the  first  payment  on  the  lands,  as  before  stated,       448  00 

Total, $748  00 

This  deducted  from  the  receipts  for  crops,  would  leave  a 

balance  in  his  hands,  annually,  of $512  00 

In  the  calculations  upon  which  this  is  based,  we  have  reserved  200 
bushels  of  wheat,  —  an  amount  quite  large  enough  for  bread  and  seed, 
—  and  900  bushels  of  corn  for  working  stock  and  fattening  animals  for 
family  use.  This  reservation  of  corn  contemplates  not  only  a  provision 
for  a  reasonable  number  of  working  and  fatting  animals,  but  also  for  the 
natural  increase  of  the  stock.  The  avails  of  which  increase,  with  but- 
ter, cheese,  poultry,  eggs,  &c, —  which  command  high  prices  in  this 
country,  —  together  with  potatoes  and  other  vegetables,  easily  raised 
from  the  lands  reserved  for  that  purpose,  will  be  amply  sufficient  to  de- 
fray all  reasonable  current  expenses  of  the  family. 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  this  is  based  upon  the  supposition  that  the 
labor  upon  the  farm  is  hired,  except  that  of  one  man.  But  if  a  farmer 
have  boys  from  14  to  16  years  of  age,  these  will  be  of  as  much  service 
in  ploughing  and  other  light  work  suited  to  their  strength,  as  men  ;  and 
in  that  case,  the  necessity  of  hiring  will  be  obviated. 

At  the  end  of  the  6th  year,  the  stock  on  the  farm  of  1 60  acres  would 
be  worth  at  least  as  much  as  in  the  commencement.     And  if  one  half 


73 

the  amount  which  could  be  annually  saved,  after  making  payments  on 
land  and  providing  for  family,  were  invested  in  improvements  on  the 
farm,  it  would  certainly  then  be  worth  from  $8000  to  $10,000,  sur- 
rounded as  it  would  then  be  with  a  good  neighborhood,  improved  social 
advantages,  and  various  resources  for  rational  enjoyment. 

COST   OF   OPENING   FARM. 

The  inquiry  is  often  made  as  to  the  amount  of  means  requisite  for 
opening  a  farm  in  Illinois.  It  must  be  apparent  that  this  will  depend 
upon  the  size,  the  conveniences  and  comforts  provided,  and  the  plan  of 
fanning  adopted. 

It  may  be  first  remarked,  in  addition  to  what  has  already  been  stated, 
that  good  clay  for  brick  is  found  in  almost  all  localities  here,  by  removing 
the  prairie  soil ;  while  in  and  around  the  groves  it  is  found  upon  the 
surface.  So  that  brick  can  be  obtained  about  as  cheaply  as  in  any  other 
part  of  the  country.  There  is,  also,  as  has  been  said,  good  limestone 
rock,  in  abundance,  in  the  banks  of  nearly  all  the  streams,  which  is 
easily  quarried,  and  the  cost  of  such  material  is  moderate.  So  that  with 
our  railroad  facilities  for  transporting  lumber,  and  the  materials  we  have 
already  here,  building  can  be  done  nearly  as  cheaply  as  in  the  Eastern 
States.  It  is  most  usual,  however,  —  being  generally  the  most  conven- 
ient, —  for  settlers  to  erect  for  themselves  framed  houses,  which  can  be 
built  at  about  the  following  rates :  — 

A  house  14  feet  by  26,  one  story  high,  plainly  and  comfortably  fin- 
ished, divided  into  two  rooms,  plastered  and  painted,  can  be  built  for 
from  $225  to  $250,  which  is  about  the  cheapest  kind  of  a  house  which 
can  be  furnished,  that  will  comfortably  accommodate  a  small  family ; 
though  one  a  story  and  a  half  high,  16  by  28  feet,  divided  into  three 
rooms  above  and  two  below,  with  pantry,  plastered  and  painted  through- 
out, ready  for  use,  would  cost  about  $400  to  $425.  There  are  parties 
who  are  willing  to  contract  to  furnish  all  materials,  and  fully  complete 
houses  of  this  description,  at  the  prices  named,  in  from  4  to  6  weeks. 
And  houses  of  larger  dimensions,  at  proportionate  rates  and  length 
of  time. 

The  digging  and  stoning  of  a  well,  in  ordinary  situations,  will  cost 
from  $20  to  $30.  It  will  require  about  $100  to  erect  the  necessary 
sheds  and  stables  for  cattle  and  horses.  Hay  and  grain  are  usually 
stacked  out,  and  are  as  well  preserved  as  if  housed.  Good  cows  can  be 
bought  for  about  $30.  A  yoke  of  good  working  oxen  is  worth  from  $80 
to  $100.  Good  farm  horses  are  worth  from  $100  to  $125.  Harness 
costs  about  the  same  as  elsewhere.  A  proper  kind  of  breaking  plough 
10 


74 

costs  $16.  Common  ploughs,  $8  to  $10  each.  A  reaping  machine  costs 
about  $175,  and  the  same  machine  may  be  readily  adapted  to  mowing. 
Threshing  machines  can  be  bought  at  from  $175  to  $300. 

It  is  customary  for  a  number  of  farmers  to  join  together  in  purchasing 
these  expensive  implements,  and  to  work  them  in  common,  in  cutting 
and  threshing  their  several  crops  of  wheat  and  oats ;  as  well  as  for  cut- 
ting their  hay.  Other  necessary  farming  utensils  are  procured  at  prices 
about  the  same  as  in  the  East. 

The  cost  of  fencing  will  of  course  depend  upon  the  amount.  The 
usual  mode  employed  is  with  boards,  until  the  hedge  is  grown.  Two 
boards  will  generally  answer  against  cattle,  —  hogs  not  being  allowed  to 
run  at  large.  As  it  is  customary,  in  many  places  upon  our  large  prai- 
ries, for  farmers,  by  common  consent,  to  enclose  all  their  stock  for  the 
first  few  years,  —  a  few  acres  only  being  required  for  this  purpose,  —  but 
a  very  small  amount  of  fencing  is  necessary,  until  the  farmer  can  either 
raise  his  hedge,  or  at  least  have  grain  for  market,  when  he  can  get  his 
lumber  for  fencing  at  the  railroad  stations,  with  but  little  loss  of  time  or 
inconvenience. 

If  160  acres  of  ground  be  taken  up  and  farmed  after  the  manner 
heretofore  described,  a  house  of  the  larger  size  would  be  required ; 
4  horses  ;  2  breaking  ploughs  ;  2  common  ploughs ;  2  cultivators,  and  2 
harrows  ;  and  other  farming  utensils  in  the  same  proportion.  But  if 
only  80  acres  wTere  farmed,  a  house  of  the  smaller  size  would  answer, 
but  one  span  of  horses,  and  other  stock  and  farming  implements  in  pro- 
portion. 

The  foregoing  statements  touching  the  subject  of  farming,  have  been 
made  with  strict  reference  to  facts  which  have  presented  themselves  to 
my  mind,  with  abundant  opportunities  for  observation,  during  five  years 
past.  The  majority  of  our  most  judicious  and  industrious  farmers  would 
doubtless  consider  the  estimates  of  profits  given  as  quite  too  low.  But 
the  object  has  been  to  show  what  are  the  average  reliable  results,  taking 
one  year  with  another,  under  ordinary  circumstances — not  merely  to 
give  the  limit  of  possibilities. 

In  showing  the  relative  value  of  lands,  I  have  compared  western 
lands  with  western  lands  only;  but  if  we  were  to  place  these  in  compe- 
tition with  those  of  the  Eastern  States,  the  preponderance  would  still  be 
in  favor  of  western  lands  generally,  for  farming  purposes.  For  when 
we  take  into  account  the  ease  and  cheapness  of  cultivation,  —  no  manure 
and  a  comparatively  small  amount  of  labor  being  required,  —  these 
qualities  more  than  compensate  for  any  extra  cost  of  transportation. 


75 


POPULATION. 

I  had  intended,  in  the  beginning  of  this,  to  give  some  statistics  of  pop- 
ulation in  the  State ;  the  increase  of  agricultural  productions,  and  of  the 
growth  of  our  cities  and  villages,  which  have  arisen  here  within  the  last 
few  years,  as  if  by  enchantment.  But  having  already  far  exceeded  the 
limits  I  had  first  prescribed  for  myself,  I  can  only  add,  in  conclusion,  a 
few  words  in  reference  to  population. 

The  population  of  the  State  in  June,  1850,  was         .         .         .  851,470 

By  the  census  taken  July  1,  1855,  it  was  shown  to  be        .         .  1,300,200 

Increase  in  five  years, 448,730 

Tins  shows  the  annual  average  increase  to  have  been         .         .  89,746 

But  as  there  was  a  large  emigration  to  California  and  other  parts  of 
the  country  west,  during  the  year  ending  July  1,  1851,  whilst  the  immi- 
gration during  the  same  period  was  small,  the  increase  during  that  year 
could  not  have  exceeded  40,000. 

For  the  year  ending  July  1,  1852,  as  the  emigration  had  somewhat 
diminished  and  the  immigration  had  increased,  it  would  be  safe  to  place 
the  gain  during  that  year  at  50,000. 

During  the  year  ending  July  1,  1853,  the  emigration  had  still  further 
diminished,  whilst  the  immigration  had  exceeded  that  of  any  previous 
year  ;  and  the  increase  for  that  year  would  not  probably  vary  much  from 
75,000. 

During  the  year  ending  July  1,  1854,  the  only  emigration  from  the 
State  was  from  the  central  and  southern  portions  into  the  adjoining 
States  ;  and  as  the  railroads  had  then  fairly  begun  to  open  the  whole 
interior  to  market,  —  which  tended  greatly  to  increase  immigration,  —  I 
think  the  increase  that  year  could  not  have  been  less  than  112,000. 

During  the  year  ending  July  1,  1855,  the  emigration  had  nearly 
ceased ;  and  the  railroads  having  reached  almost  every  part  of  the  in- 
terior, while  there  was  a  still  larger  influx  of  immigrants,  the  increase 
reached  166,746. 

During  the  current  year,  ending  July  1,  1856,  as  all  portions  of  the 
State  are  now  opened  to  market,  and  the  emigration  having  almost  entire- 
ly ceased,  we  are  safe  in  setting  down  the  increase  this  year  at  200,000. 

And  from  the  vast  purchases  of  land  by  those  who  contemplate  re- 
moving hither  the  coming  season,  the  accessibility  of  every  part  of  the 
State,  and  the  tide  of  population  now  fairly  flowing  in  this  direction,  I 
can  see  nothing  to  prevent  a  continuance  of  this  increase  for  the  next 
four  years.  In  which  case,  there  will  be  a  population  in  the  State,  in 
1860,  of  two  millions  and  three  hundred  thousand. 

A.  CAMPBELL. 

La  Salle,  February  1,  1856. 


76 


ILLINOIS  WHEAT  IN  THE  LONDON  MARKET. 

VERDICT  OF  A  CORN  FACTOR. 

Last  season  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  caused  to  be  sent  to  the  London 
Corn  Exchange  a  number  of  varieties  of  Illinois  wheat,  grown  in  different  portions  of  the 
State.  The  samples  were  submitted  to  Mr.  J.  Exeley,  an  experienced  corn  factor,  whose 
report  we  now  present  to  our  readers  :  — 

REPORT  OF   MR.  J.  EXELEY   ON   SAMPLES   OF   ILLINOIS  WHEAT  RECEIVED  FROM 
THE  HLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  COMPANY. 

No.  1.  Winter  Red  Chaff,  La  Salle  County — A  nice  quality,  but  not  of  great  strength 
in  flour  —  now  worth  in  Mark  Lane  73  s.  per  quarter,  imperial  —  will  weigh  about  62  lbs. 
per  bushel. 

^No.  2.  Union  County  —  A  splendid  sample  of  red  —  will  weigh  in  every  opinion  fully 
65  lbs.  per  imperial  bushel —  would  command  70  s.  per  quarter  if  here  now.  Its  berry  is 
about  the  size  of  English  "  Nursery  Red  "  —  much  approved  by  the  town  millers. 

No.  3.  White  "Winter  Wheat,  Union  County  —  Resembles  our  "  Chidham  "  —  worth 
74  s.  per  imperial  quarter  —  weighs  about  62  lbs.  per  bushel. 

No.  4.  White  Winter,  Blue  Stem,  Perry  County  —  A  very  fine  and  strong  quality  — 
fully  63  lbs.  —  worth  74  s.  per  imperial  quarter. 

No.  5.    Red  Winter  Wheat,  Mediterranean,  Perry  County —  Strong  and  heavy  —  64 
lbs.  per  bushel  —  such  as  we  get  from  Leghorn  —  worth  68  s.  per  imperial  quarter. 
_  No.  6.   Red  Winter  Wheat,  Velvet  Chaff,  Perry  County  —  Prime,  worth  68  s.  per  impe- 
rial quarter  —  will  weigh  63  lbs. 

No.  7.  White  Winter  Wheat,  Perry  County— 63  lbs.  per  bushel  —  worth  74  si' per 
imperial  quarter  —  fine  and  salable. 

No.  8.    Spring  Wheat,  Perry  County  —  good  63  lbs.  — worth  66  s.  per  imperial  quarter. 

No.  9.  La  Salle  County  —  Fair  quality  —  worth  65  s.  per  imperial  quarter  —  62  lbs.  per 
bushel. 

No.  10.    La  Salle  County  —  About  62  lbs.  per  bushel  — worth  64  s.  per  imperial  quarter. 

No.  11.  La  Salle  County,  Red  Spring  —  About  62  lbs.  —worth  64  s. 

No.  12.  McLean  County  —  A  nice  quality — about  62  lbs.  —  worth  66  s.  per  imperial 
quarter. 

No.  13.  McLean  County  —  White  Winter  Wheat — worth  74  s.  per  imperial  quarter, 
prime  —  useful  sample. 

No.  14.  Iroquois  County,  White  Winter — Very  heavy  —  64  lbs.  per  bushel  —  worth 
74  s.  per  imperial  quarter. 

No.  15.  Iroquois  County,  Prime  Wheat —  64  lbs.  per  bushel  —  worth  74  s.  per  imperi- 
al quarter. 

No.  16.  Iroquois  County,  Winter  Wheat — 62  lbs.  per  imperial  bushel  —  worth  72  s. 
per  quarter. 

No.  17.  Will  County,  Winter  Wheat  —  Worth  74  s.  per  imperial  quarter — weighs 
about  63  lbs.  per  imperial  bushel. 

No.  18.  Will  County,  Winter  Wheat — 74  s.  per  imperial  quarter  —  weighs  63  lbs.  per 
imperial  bushel. 

No.  19.  DeWitt  County,  White  Winter  Wheat  —  73  s.  per  quarter  —  weighs  about  62 
lbs.  per  bushel. 

No.  20.  Kankakee  Count)',  White  Winter  Wheat  —  Worth  73  s.  per  quarter  —  about 
62  lbs  per  bushel. 

No.  21.  Lee  County,  Spring  Red — About  64  lbs.  per  bushel  —  worth  68  s.  per  impe- 
rial quarter. 

No.  22.  Marshall  County,  Fair  White  Wheat,  Winter— About  62  lbs.  per  bushel- 
worth  72  s.  per  imperial  quarter. 

No.  23.  Union  County,  White  Winter  —  About  63  lbs. — worth  73  s.  per  imperial 
quarter. 

No.  24.    Macon  County  —  Fair  quality  —  about  62  lbs.  —  worth  72  s  per  quarter. 

No.  25.  Williamson  County,  Red  Winter  Wheat  — 64  lbs.  per  imperial  bushel —  prime 
sample  —  worth  68  s.  per  quarter. 

N.  B.  All  the  samples  are  in  the  best  condition,  and  cleanly  dressed,  in  both  respects 
better  than  the  cargoes  arrive,  and  the  whole  would  bear  the  passage  well,  and  no  doubt 
come  out  in  good  order.  I  never  saw  a  finer  specimen  of  samples  from  the  United  States 
together. 

(Signed)  J.  EXELEY. 

November  27,  1856. 


AGRICULTURAL  RESOURCES  OF  ILLINOIS. 

CROP   OF   18.5.5. 

Much  as  we  have  said  from  time  to  time  upon  the  wonderful  agricultural  resources  of 
our  State,  we  are  convinced,  nevertheless,  that  they  are  appreciated  by  but  very  few  of  our 
citizens,  while  abroad  there  is  nothing  like  a  correct  conception  of  their  magnitude  and 
extent.  Some  go  back  to  the  census  of  returns  of  18.50,  and  base  their  opinions  of  the 
capacity  of  Illinois  upon  the  figures  there  given,  as  if  they  furnished  a  fair  criterion  by 
which  to  judge.  They  forget,  or  perhaps  have  never  learned,  that  since  those  statistics 
were  made  up,  nearly  twenty-five  hundred  miles  of  railroad  have  been  built  in  the  State ; 
that  its  population  has  increased  from  8-51,470  to  nearly  1,500,000  ;  that  the  number  of 
acres  under  cultivation  now  is  more  than  double  that  of  18.50  ;  that  all  the  more  recent  im- 
provements in  the  various  processes  of  agriculture  have  come  into  general  use  ;  and  that 
production  has  been  further  stimulated  by  the  increased  facility  for  moving  products  to 
market,  and  by  unprecedentedly  high  prices.  And  they  further  forget  that,  with  all  this 
increased  production,  hardly  one  third  of  the  arable  lands  of  the  State  have  been  re- 
claimed from  their  natural  condition.  Without  considering  all  these  elements,  any  con- 
clusion drawn  from  the  census  of  1850  would  be  of  the  most  fallacious  character,  and 
would  fall  far  short  of  doing  justice  to  our  noble  State. 

The  building  of  railroads  in  our  State  has  led  to  a  great  deal  of  investigation  respect- 
ing its  undeveloped  wealth  of  soil  and  nrinerals.  Particularly  have  investigations  of  this 
character  been  set  on  foot  through  that  vast  portion  of  the  State  traversed  by  the  Illinois 
Central  Road.  Prior  to  the  construction  of  this  great  work,  but  little  comparatively  was 
known  of  the  country  which  it  has  opened  to  cultivation.  Remote  from  navigable  water- 
courses, with  neither  natural  nor  artificial  outlets  to  market,  it  was  passed  by  almost  un- 
noticed by  the  immigrant.  For  many  long  years  it  had  been  offered  for  sale  at  the  min- 
imum price  of  public  lands,  ($1  2-5  per  acre,)  but  with  very  rare  exceptions,  here  and 
there,  it  remained  a  "  drug  "  upon  the  hands  of  the  Government.  But  with  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  the  only  condition  unfavorable  to  its  settlement 
passed  away,  and  instantly  upon  that  event,  explorers  commenced  traversing  it  in  all 
directions,  enterprising  settlers  bought  up  the  public  lands  at  double  the  minimum  rate, 
the  Company  found  wiling  purchasers  'for  its  immense  possessions  at  a  much  greater 
price,  and  the  "waste  and  solitary  places  "  were  speedily  transformed  into  enterprising 
communities  that  will  already  compare  favorably  in  thrift  and  in  the  means  of  comfort 
with  the  earlier  settled  portions  of  the  State.  It  was  found  that  soils  the  richest,  and  a 
climate  unusually  exempt  from  the  ordinary  malaria  of  unsettled  countries,  marked  the 
whole  course  of  the  road.  Particularly  were  new  facts  brought  to  light  respecting  the 
middle  and  southern  portions  of  the  State,  which  hitherto  haa  been  as  a  sealed  book  to 
immigrants  seeking  a  Western  home  by  way  of  the  Lake,  and  other  northern  routes. 
Yankee  enterprise  had  but  rarely  planted  itself  in  this  portion  of  the  State.  It  was  igno- 
miniously  designated  "Egypt,"  and  but  very  few  from  the  Northern  or  Eastern  States 
could  be  induced  to  explore  the  country  and  judge  from  personal  inspection  of  the  truth 
or  falsity  of  the  current  statements  respecting  it.  The  day  of  this  humiliation  has  passed 
forever  from  Southern  Illinois.  It  continues  to  be  styled  "Egypt,"  indeed,  but  the  des- 
ignation is  no  longer  a  reproach.  The  name  has  become  honorable  —  suggestive  of  fruit- 
fulness  and  plenty. 

The  reputation  of  Southern  Illinois,  as  respects  productive  capacity,  having  been  thus 
vindicated  and  established,  and  all  that  tract  of  country  constituting  the  high  table  lands 
forming  the  divide  between  the  waters  flowing  west  into  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi,  and 
those  flowing  cast  into  the  Wabash  and  Ohio,  having  been  furnished  with  railroad  facili- 
ties, the  question  as  to  the  agricultural  resources  of  our  State  becomes  easy  of  solution. 
In  all  those  ingredients  of  soil  and  concomitants  of  climate  requisite  to  the  most  bounti- 
ful production  of  the  cereals  and  grasses,  in  all  of  those  conditions  regarded  as  peculiarly 
•favorable  to  the  growth  of  stock,  and  particularly  in  topographical  adaptation  to  the  ap- 
plication of  machinery  in  agricultural  pursuits, "Illinois  may  proudly  challenge  compari- 
son! with  the  most  favored  of  her  sisters  of  the  North-west  or  South-west.  We  have 
travelled  through  nearly  every  county  in  the  State,  we  have  conversed  with  the  old  pioneers 
who  i'<now  every  foot  of  the  ground,  we  have  had  the  opinion  of  surveyors  and  engineers, 
and  fronn  all  that  we  can  gather  from  our  own  observation  and  that  of  others,  we  hesitate 
not  to  s  ay  that  at  least  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  area  of  the  State  consists  of  first 
class  arable  land,  and  ninety  per  cent,  of  it  is  susceptible  of  profitable  culture.  The  area 
of  the  Stat  e  is  .55,000  square  miles.  Eighty  per  cent,  of  that  is  44,000  square  miles,  equal 
to  28,260,091$)  acres.  An  average  corn  crop  in  Illinois  is  fifty  bushels  to  the  acre.  Sup- 
posing the  wlaole  of  the  area  to  be  devoted  to  corn  growing,  the  ordinary  annual  vield 
would  be,  in  ro„md  numbers,  1,413,000,000  bushels!  Are  these  figures  startling  ?  They 
are  inside  of  wh-at  might  be  done. 

But  we  must  leiave  this  branch  of  our  subject,  although  it  is  far  from  being  exhausted, 
to  say  a  few  words  upon  the  crop  of  1S55.  And  here  again  the  U.  S.  census  returns  of 
1850  constitute  no  sa  fe  criterion.  The  crop  of  1849  was  less  than  an  average  one  in  Illi- 
nois.    According  to  th  e  returns  it  was  as  follows  :  — 


78 
........... 

liye,         ......... 

.......... 

■ 
r.rra  end  res.     Ir  mifst  :  I 

: 

Ind,  practical 

irea  has 

. 
Is  of  tro 

mi 

from  d<  irl  ".  :  — 

n  Coin,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  I 

... 
0»ts.  Barley,         Rye,       • 



. 
.  linsj  it,  it  will  doubtless  be  wi  ij    .res  for 

which  ar  subject     An 

ided  over  a  large 
of  information  obtained  from 

grains.    In  18 1 
bushels  .of  corn.  tlie  list  i'or  the 

tion  of  our  readers  :  — 


hat  we  cannot 

. 

■;    .  ,■  -.  ..."      [uaremil 
v.  hole  county  !     And  tl 

If  so, 
unl     *  grain  i  lied  this 

[fares:  — 

b 

,i;  ........  . 

Total,    ...  •  •  ■ 

•     part  of  this  aggreg 

ider,  if  a  sea 

.  when  the    imn 

■ 
.    o 

in  furnish,  to 


79 


STATISTICS  OF  TOWNS  OH  THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD.    1856. 


MAIN  LINE. 

Dunleith, 

Menominee,... 

Galena 

Council  Hill,. 
Scales  Mound, 
Apple  River,. 

Warren, 

Nora, 

Lena, 

Eleroy, 

Freeport, 

Forreston,  . . . 

Polo, 

Woosung,.... 

Dixon,  

Amboy, 

Sublette, 

Mendota,*.... 

Homer, 

La  Salle, 

Tonica, 

Wenona 

New  Rutland, 

Minonk, 

Panola, 

Kappa, 

Hudson 

Bloomington, 
Heyworth, . . . 

Wa'pella, 

Clinton, 

Maroa, 

Decatur, 

Macon, 

Moawequa,... 

Tacusa, 

Pana, 

Oconee, 

Ramsey, 

Vandalia, 

Shobonier,.... 

Patoka, 

Sandoval 

Centralia,.... 
Richview, .... 

Ashley, 

Coloma, 

Tamaroa,  .... 
Du  Quoin, . . . 
DeSoto, 


1853         5     700 

No    town    yet 

1835  6,000  9,500 


1828 

300 

400 

18.50 

14 

25  (J 

18-H 

None 

140 

L850 

35 

3.50 

1852 

None 

300 

1853 

5 

350 

1850 

IS 

225 

18:J8 

1,400 

5,000 

1855 

None 

9!) 

18-54 

None 

550 

1855 

None 

.54 

1830 

540 

3,200 

1850 

16 

1,320 

185-5 

None 

18-5 

1853 

None 

1,800 

-No 

town 

vet 

1830 

200,  3,-500 

1850 

3 

ISO 

1855 

None 

.53 

1856 

None 

None 

1854 

None 

70 

1853 

None 

1.50 

1853 

None 

150 

1836 

2-5 

103 

1832 

2,200 

5,500 

1856 

None 

15 

1S53 

None 

275 

1845 

800 

1,500 

1855 

None 

6 

1820 

600 

2,200 

lS54lNone 
lS53iNone 
1855  None 


1855 
185-5 

1856 
182) 
1856 


None 
None 
None 

360  1,000 
None  None 
20 


185-5  None 
1S-54  None 
18-54  None 
;1840  65 
1854  None 
1856  None 
1854  None 
1853  None 


1,800  260 
form'd  here, 
12,000  2,500 


500 

202 

200 

800 

400 

468 

750 

6,000 

153 

2,500 

105 

4,500 

2,500 

1,098 

l,400j 


120 
40 
40 
150 
78 
116 
150 
1,600 
30 
500 
30 
515 
350 
158 
242 


form'd  here. 


7,250 

240 

1,200 

70 

130 

195 

208 

110 
7,000  2 

200 

350 

1,600 

28 

4,000 


400 

40 

850 

80 

75 

1,600 

23 

18 

120 

1,900 

718 

300 

113 

60 

300 

500 


1,-5-5) 
50 
300 
12 


.5'.. 
30.. 
275;  2 
1-56  2 
100  2 
24  1 
17-. 


14  123 

2l     4 
3!     3 


120 
2 


.!  l 


. 

a 

•s 

£ 

■g 

H 

I 

% 

-: 

B 

B 

•••:* 

g 

V. 

% 

t 

\ 

Well  cultiv  atcd  back  of    to  wn 


This  is  a  m  ining  j  count  ry.  . . . 
7,000  10,000,  4,000  4,000  50  40 
6,900.  8,320  10,40012,4801  72  79 
3,000,  5,000'  2,500!  2,000;  70  40 
6,000'  8,000;  6,000|  7,000,  50  70 
10,500  15,320    5,200    7,CG0    80    20 

No  re  turns.' 

No  re  turns.1 '. 


22,000  37,t)00 15,000  23,000    65 

9,000 10,5(0  6,500  7,000  49 
12,000  14,000  9,00010,000  60 
1,450  2,800!  3,800:  4,200.  34 
20,000  25,000  24,000  30,000'  80 
3  22,000  32,000  34,000  47.000.  70  100 
3,800  4,680|  3,0601  3,580!  8  7 
-5  2.5,200  28,800  32,400l43,200  100!  70 
16,000  21,000  19,000  35,000,  60  80 
7,000  10,000  20,000  2-5,000  125100 
21,500  23,600  28.500  38,000  180  160 
25,000  40,000  20,300  38,000  100  140 
4,360;  9,500;  8,000  10,000  128'  73 
6,700(  9,000  5,100  6,500  179  138 
18,000  24,00012,000  16,000  100  120 
12,740  21,600  30,100  35, 220:  601  80 
10,000  16.890  20,0(0  2.'-:. 0-0  21  1,5 
-  40,000  65,000  45,000  60,000  400  600 
.  20,000  30,000  18,000  2-5,000,  70  150 
211,200  15,800  21.500  28.000  140  200 
.1  2,500  8,500  32,0(0  35,000  75  100 
.!  3,500  6.500  4,000:  4,600'  26)  40 
2  11  24,000  47,000  50,000:78,000  100  120 

No  returns.1 I. ..'... 

6  25,000  44,000]  4,000  7,000  30  50 
2,000'  3,500!  4,000!  5,500  25  40 
2,000|  2,500  12,000  lo.OOO;  25  32 
1,300  10,000  20,0(10  1-5.000  15  13 
6,200  11,700  15,61:0  22.200      6    10 


l.fOO 
1,500 
400 
300 
1,500 
3,000 
2,000 
1,000 
4,200 
2,000 
4,320 


2,400 

2,000 

900 


4,000    6,(  I 


3,000  5,000  15    20 

1,800|  2,500!  7    30 

800    1,400  2,000,  10    23 

800    5,000  9,000  90  165 


1 

15,000  35,600'40,000j  501  60 

6,0001  8,000  10,000  50    84 

5,000'  8,000,  9,000!  38 

6, 740  18.000  21,000  31 

6,640  12,400  12,000)  12 


64 

59 
32 
,200  12,00015,600  142215 


*  At  Mendota  the  decrease  in  population  is  owing  i 
employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Kailroad. 


the  withdrawal  of  some  hundreds  of  laborers,  who  were 


i 


STATISTICS  01  T0TO8  0U  THE  H&ITJO  AILROAD. 


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Ashk: 
Onarga 

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am, .... 



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